City-wide emergency medical exercise starts on flight line Published Sept. 26, 2007 By Senior Airman Timothy Beckham and Staff Sgt. Jake Richmond 355th Fighter Wing Public Affairs DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE -- Several local medical agencies combined to conduct a National Disaster Medical System joint exercise Sept. 17, beginning with a simulated C-130 landing and patient offload on the flight line here. The exercise, which was a function of the National Disaster Medical System, included participants from the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System, Pima County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, Tucson Fire Department, Arizona Disaster Medical Assistance Team, and several other agencies. The purpose of the exercise was to monitor the reception of simulated patients arriving from a disaster-stricken location out of state. More than 140 volunteer patients arrived on base just after 10 a.m. and were immediately put through the "triage" process, which involves medical professionals categorizing the injured and ill according to how immediately they need medical attention. "We were trying to simulate what happened in 2005 with (Hurricane) Katrina," said Maj. Paul Yentel, nurse manager for the 355th Aerospace Medical Squadron and exercise medical crew director. "We simulated 140 patients going through triage and then worked with nine other area hospitals to get them follow-up care." After triage, ambulances and buses arrived to transport the patients to the various medical centers in the Tucson area. All the patients were successfully admitted into a treatment facility before 1 p.m. The exercise provided a training environment for interdepartmental and interjurisdictional involvement, requiring all emergency response agencies and organizations to work with a shared purpose. "We were totally dependent on the support of the community," said Major Yentel. "We don't have a hospital or an ambulance service so we really had to work with other agencies to get this done." As the NDMS-designated Federal Coordinating Center, SAVAHCS is responsible for coordinating a patient-reception plan with the local emergency medical system and hospitals. It's also charged with testing that plan by conducting joint exercises like this one. Dan Johnston, area emergency manager for SAVAHCS, was pleased with the combined efforts of the exercise participants. "I thought the exercise was very beneficial to the NDMS and to the community," he said. "It helped the whole community work together and to identify opportunities for improvement. There were many positive aspects of the exercise that will help the community in future exercises and in response to actual emergencies." Mr. Johnston said another NDMS exercise will be conducted in Tucson sometime in the next three years.