Emergency medical providers to participate in active shooter drill

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active shooter drill Towns County

HIAWASSEE, Ga. – Georgia Mountain Healthcare Coalition, which consists of Chatuge Regional and Union General Hospitals, is planning an active shooter drill designed for emergency medical providers. The four hour drill will take place in early May in Towns and Union Counties. In sum, the exercise will involve a prison break and active shooter scenerio. Chatuge Regional Hospital in Hiawassee and Union General Hospital in Blairsville will provide mock treatment for 15 “victims.”

Georgia’s Healthcare Preparedness Program is directly funded by the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) through the Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP). HPP’s mission is to prepare the health care system to save lives through the support of regional health care coalitions (HCC). HCCs are groups of health care and response organizations that collaborate to prepare for and respond to medical surge events. HCCs incentivize diverse and often competitive health care organizations to work together.  They are comprised of Banks, Dawson, Habersham, Hall, Lumpkin, Rabun, Stephens, Towns, Union and White Counties.

“The exercise is written with the healthcare organizations goals in mind, but it offers an opportunity for the community to be involved for training and skill development within the discipline of each group,” the situational manual explains.  “The National Planning Scenarios and the establishment of the National Preparedness Priorities have steered the focus of homeland security toward a capabilities-based approach.  Capabilities-based planning focuses on planning under uncertainty, since the next danger or disaster can never be forecast with complete accuracy.  Therefore, capabilities-based planning takes an all-hazards approach to planning and preparation that builds on capabilities which can be applied to a wide variety of incidents.

“The Homeland Security and Exercise Evaluation Program (HSEEP) and our own healthcare standards governing bodies emphasize capabilities-based planning.  The intent is to identify a baseline assessment of their homeland security efforts.  We do this by comparing current capabilities against the Core Capabilities of our established industry standards.”

Evaluation of the exercise is based on the exercise objectives and aligned capabilities, capability targets, and critical tasks, which are documented in Exercise Evaluation Guides (EEG).  Evaluators have EEGs for each of their assigned areas.  Additionally, players will be asked to complete participant feedback forms.  These documents, coupled with facilitator observations and notes, will be used to evaluate the exercise and compile an After-Action Report.

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