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Show ' " ' 1 f r jj i ' X v j , r ' Vv '. , , , V. -A : A "victim" is treated for "injuries' by Pleasant Grove EMT's during a mock disaster drill May 16 at the Lindon Care and Training Center. Nursing home, medical, fire personnel get workout during mock disaster "Victims" were strewn about the hallways of Lindon Care and Training Center May 16 during a mock disaster drill at the facility. Residents of the center, mentally handicapped females, were made up to look like they had been seriously injured in a boiler explosion at the Center. Hospital personnel, assisted by Lehi Ambulance Association members, had applied the makeup to about 20 "victims". When the alarm was sounded, the employees of the Center followed the stated procedure for an emergency. The Pleasant Grove Ambulance Association and Fire Dept. responded respon-ded and practiced their emergency procedures for such an accident. The "injured" were prioritized by seriousness of their injuries, treatment treat-ment was begun and they were transported tran-sported to American Fork Hospital where they received additional treatment. Joyce Hailing, aclministrator and owner of the Lindon Care and Training Center, was notified of the "disaster" and immediately came to the Center, as did all off-duty personnel. per-sonnel. Mrs. Hailing said that the drills are required every six months and they had never had a complete disaster drill before so they contacted con-tacted the American Fork Hospital about having one. The hospital, ambulance crew and fire department were all glad to work with them on this drill, she said. The hospital acted as the coordinators. coor-dinators. She noted that the facility is an intermediary care facility for mentally men-tally handcapped females. Most of the staff did not know about the drill and were called in just like they would be in a real emergency. Mrs. Hailing said they were concerned con-cerned about how the patients would react to an emergency like this. They were apprehensive about holding such a drill with mentally retarded people but the girls performed per-formed very well, she added. The administrator said that they chose some patients who they knew could handle the situation, but they also chose a deaf girl so that they had to work with non-verbal communication, com-munication, a hyperactive woman and some epileptics. The mock disaster was set up by Angela Distefano, director of nursing nur-sing at the Center, and Roy Gillespie, maintenance supervisor. He said he thought this was the first time a nursing home in Utah had held a complete disaster drill. Vickie Johnson was the coordinator coor-dinator at American Fork Hospital and Dave Vickers handled the plans for the Pleasant Grove Ambulance and Fire Dept. Vickers reported that this type of drill gives the ambulance and fire department personnel an opportunity to work together and coordinate efforts. He said that they had to secure the area before the ambulance people went into the building. If this had been a real disaster, there would have been help from the adjacent communities for medical and fire assistance. Vickers noted that the tri-cities, American Fork, Lehi and Pleasant Grove, try to hold a training drill every three months. Since the American Fork Hospital is the medical facility for all three communities, com-munities, they try to work together on some of these drills. They needed to have a drill on burns and so that is one reason they decided to have the emergency be caused by a boiler explosion. In a mock disaster, such as this, he said, they do not come with red lights and siren as that would create real problems. All his people had to be told it was only a drill. All of the groups involved met at American Fork Hospital for a critique after the exercise was completed com-pleted so that they could learn where they needed to improve. |