The staff at Cushing Memorial Hospital got a taste Thursday of what a real chemical decontamination emergency would look and feel like.
The situation was a group of teenagers who were exposed to a fertilizer ingredient, anhydrous ammonia, according to Mike Briney, a security officer at Cushing who was performing the evaluation of the drill.
It was only a simulation, but the members of the hospital’s volunteer hazardous materials team suited up and set up a decontamination tent to test its skills and its time using volunteers as mock victims.
Tabatha Hatfield, team leader, said once a hospital has a hazmat team and has gone through an initial class, it has to recertify its members’ “suit eligibility” each year. There are two ways to do that, she said — either classroom time or by staging a drill like the one at Cushing.
Choosing the latter option keeps the team members in their toes, according to Becky Kobler, another member of the team.
“This makes sure that we are comfortable in moving around,” she said.
There are 15 people on the team, and Hatfield said 12 of them are eligible to don the hazmat suits that feature contained air supplies and ice vests to help the members keep cool. They’re not all medical professionals — member Jeremiah Pierce said he is an accountant by day.
Kobler said by getting in the suits and going through the whole process — despite the heat and the humidity of the tent and the suits — the team gets a chance to adjust the small details and get the operation running as smoothly as possible in preparation for when and if there is a real emergency.
“That’s the whole point of the drills,” she said.
Briney said the team goes through one or two of the drills each year and each of the eligible members suit up, assemble the tent and treat mock patients. He said the hazmat team has been in existence at Cushing for a couple of years.
Hatfield said the team was able to set up its equipment, suit up and treat its patients in 1-1/2 hours on Thursday. In performing his evaluation, Briney said he thought the team could definitely handle a real emergency.
“We’re ready for that,” he said. “ We can do it.”
Leavenworth, Kan. —
