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NEWINGTON, CT, May 1, 2002--A train wreck in California April 23 turned a planned drill to test hospital patient triage and transportation procedures for mass casualty incidents into the real thing for one Amateur Radio Emergency Service team. The mishap occurred just as hospitals and emergency responders in Orange County were about to participate in the large-scale exercise.
Two dozen members of the Hospital Disaster Support Communication System (HDSCS)--a special ARES group that always participates in the drill--were awaiting assignments when word arrived that a freight train and a Metrolink double-decker passenger train had collided. Two passengers were killed and more than 200 people were injured--many seriously.
Orange County ARES Emergency Coordinator and HDSCS Net Control April Moell, WA6OPS, immediately assigned the drill-ready hams to the 14 hospitals expected to receive crash victims. For the next 4-1/2 hours, 28 HDSCS members provided vital links among the hospitals, the county's ambulance dispatch center and the county's emergency medical service agency.
Net traffic included verifying victim dispatch and patient counts, providing hospitals with information for inquiring family members, and liaison with hams supporting the Red Cross.
Said Larry Woolf, KF6YCM, "The hospital looked to the hams for a lot of info, and we did not let them down. The fact that we were able to get information quickly impressed them greatly!" Woolf said hospitals now consider amateurs "a major component" of their emergency response team.
Within some hospitals, hams provided direct communication among triage areas, emergency departments, and command posts.
"Early on, their internal communications were in a bit of a turmoil because their own walkie-talkies weren't working," explained Assistant Coordinator Dennis Kidder, WA6NIA. "So we provided an immediate backup for them between the emergency department and the command post, because they were hurting really bad for that." Kidder said the hams were repeatedly told by staff and the hospital incident commander how much they appreciated their being there.
The callup marked the 75th hospital communications emergency response in the 21-year history of HDSCS.
Moell is founder and emergency coordinator of the ARES group. "It was amazing how much this actual communications emergency seemed like 'just another drill' for us," she said. "All of our HDSCS operators went to their reassigned hospitals and got onto the net quickly, without having to ask for directions or further instructions."
Moell said participants' message-handling skills were excellent. "Having drilled with our hospitals over a hundred times has paid off well for us and for them."
Plaudits came from the hospitals as well. Said Mary Massey at Anaheim Memorial Medical Center, "Tell your people what a fantastic job they did for us Tuesday. It is one area that always comes through for us."
More information is available on the HDSCS Web site.--Joe Moell, K0OV
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