In May, faculty and staff, along with a resident and fellow from the Department of Emergency Medicine and the EMS Fellowship program helped coordinate the EMS response and training that was part of a full-scale disaster exercise at the Kalamazoo-Battle Creek International Airport.
The medical school, along with the Kalamazoo County Medical Control Authority and the Fifth District Medical Response Coalition, as well as local police, fire, and EMS agencies, participated in the May 16 exercise, which involved a multi-agency response to a plane crash with multiple casualties and injuries.
“The role is to really try to work through processes – communication and incident management,” said William Fales, MD, professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine and division chief for the Division of EMS and Disaster Medicine at WMed. “We’re setting up casualty collection areas, performing triage, and ensuring that we follow our mass casualty plan to identify what works and what doesn’t work.”
Along with Dr. Fales, other faculty and staff from WMed who participated in the exercise included Joshua Mastenbrook, MD, associate professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine; Maura Holm, DO, a second-year Emergency Medicine resident; EMS Fellow Stephen Godfrey, MD; Craig Dieringer, director of Administrative Simulation, and Michael Bentley, EMS clinical care quality improvement manager.
Dr. Fales said airport officials are required to perform the large-scale exercise every three years. Dr. Godfrey helped lead and coordinate the MCI simulation, which first responders got the chance to practice three times, he said.
“A lot of this focuses on the importance of working within the incident command system, getting an assignment, following through on that assignment, working together as teams, and practicing effective communication,” Dr. Fales said.