Salinas Valley Health Hosts Successful Mass Casualty Incident Exercise

Media Contact: Karina Rusk
831-759-1843

Salinas Valley Health (Salinas Valley Health) hosted a county wide mass casualty incident (MCI) exercise Thursday morning. The annual drill is designed to coordinate emergency care and response during a high level county wide emergency involving medical needs and various agencies.

The scenario for this exercise consisted of a local school being sprayed with a fertilizing agent. As a result, dozens of patients arrived to the Salinas Valley Health Emergency Department needing decontamination and emergency medical treatment. Approximately 50 students from local high schools volunteered as patients in this drill. A decontamination tent was deployed outside of the hospital to remove any hazardous agents prior to patients being admitted to the Emergency Room.

“This emergency drill is very important,” says Jeremy Hadland, RN, Clinical Manager Emergency Department. “It allows Salinas Valley Memorial and other organizations to practice response coordination, communication, and delivery of care. It also allows us to identify areas for improvement.”

The coordinated medical treatment included an examination, decontamination, acuity assessment and placement in low, moderate or high medical needs categories. Representatives from every participating agency took part in a debriefing exercise following the drill and concluded it was successful and extremely valuable.

The exercise involved collaboration between Salinas Valley Health, Natividad Medical Center, Mee Memorial Hospital, Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula (CHOMP), as well as Salinas Fire Department, Monterey County Office of Emergency Services, Monterey County Hazardous Materials Team and AMR Ambulance Service.