SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) – In March of 2020, many of us remember it well for the beginning of a global pandemic, and here in Utah, a massive earthquake that rocked portions of the Salt Lake valley.
In the event, the “big one” happens again, or any other natural disaster occurs, the veteran affairs health care system of Salt Lake City is prepared to step in? It’s all a part of the national disaster medical system operation.
Salt Lake’s VA health care system spent Thursday morning holding a disaster drill. They want to know how well they can respond to emergencies like a major earthquake. The exercise consisted of a patient offload from a simulated C-17, reception, tracking, and simulated transportation of patients (actors) to local hospitals
This wasn’t just an exercise meant to help veterans.
“We’re the lead agency for running this operation and partnering with the community to care for patients and making sure they have a hospital bed,” says Gregory McQuaide, of the Utah Office of Emergency management.
The exercise is designed to replicate a real-life scenario after an earthquake hits Alaska due to an overwhelmed healthcare system there. Triaged patients are transported to Utah.
Dr. Angela Williams, Interim Medical Center Director at the Salt Lake VA tells ABC4 “well usually when we take patients from somewhere else that means we’re pretty calm one of our missions is to be robust in emergency partners and that’s one way we do that.”
Willams says Emergency professionals train yearly for a real-life event.
If this were the case the patients are then sorted by their condition, stable, serious, or critical…then taken to a local hospital.
“We’re building relationships, so we know who to reach out to, and that makes us better prepared for when real-life events occur,” Dr. Williams tells ABC4.