Eight individuals from Nevada County attended an immersive training at the Center for Domestic Preparedness in Annistan, Alabama this month. Two Nevada County Public Health staff and six Tahoe Forest Hospital staff spent a week learning about Healthcare Leadership in Mass Casualty Incidents. Participants in the program learned how to apply comprehensive emergency management tools in complex and catastrophic disasters that would impact our medical and health systems.
The training included both classroom sessions and hands on practicum during simulated disaster events. The training campus in Annistan has a fully in-tact hospital building that is vacant and reserved exclusively for the student experience. Actors were brought in as patients, simulated news briefings were broadcasted about emergencies, and real time response capabilities were tested.
“Although the curriculum can be mentally and emotionally taxing, this type of training is critical to building our preparedness and response capabilities for if the worst-case scenario happens,” says Nevada County Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Coordinator, Kim Stine.
Nevada County Public Health coordinated the attendance of a larger group of eighteen students from California’s Region IV Medical Mutual Aid network and Public Health colleagues from Northern Nevada Public Health in Washoe County.
“Training with our peers from neighboring jurisdictions makes the experience all that more impactful and valuable. As a rural community, we are often working closely with our regional partners during disasters; attending trainings together lets us build on those relationships and learn from each other in truly meaningful ways. We are a more cohesive regional response team by having had this training opportunity together,” says Kim Stine.
The group will present out lessons learned in July’s Nevada County Health Care Coalition’s quarterly meeting. If you are a healthcare provider or response professional and you’d like more information on how to join the health care coalition, you can email epic@nevadacountyca.gov
Center for Domestic Preparedness Graduates from Nevada County include:
Jessica Ferrer, Nevada County Public Health; Kim Stine, Nevada County Public Health; Anna Voegele, Tahoe Forest Hospital; Anthony Lavin, Tahoe Forest Hospital; Kaitlin Steverman, Tahoe Forest Hospital; Addie Brixey, Tahoe Forest Hospital; Trent Foust, Tahoe Forest Hospital; Katie Lamb, Tahoe Forest Hospital.
