Florida Hospital Fish Memorial Assists with County Emergency Drill

ORANGE CITY, Fla., March 10, 2016 On March 2, Florida Hospital Fish Memorial joined Volusia County in a full-scale emergency response exercise and drill at the Daytona Beach International Airport.

The premise of the fictitious emergency scenario was an airline crash with passenger injuries and casualties. A plane fuselage was staged on airport property and partially off property on Richard Petty Boulevard.

More than 65 volunteers from the University of Central Floridas nursing program and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, as well as 14 Deltona High School students, played the role of victims.

More than 225 participants from federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, fire services and EVAC ambulance participated in this drill. This exercise is part of a triennial requirement of the Federal Aviation Administration and tests the abilities of emergency response units at the airport relating to commercial aircraft emergencies.

Florida Hospital Fish Memorial used this drill as an opportunity for their decontamination team to practice with hazardous material suits and the ZUMRO tent, a rapid deployable emergency shelter system for on-the-scene decontamination.

This was a very successful drill for us. We were able to quickly erect our hazardous materials tent and appropriately suit up our employees with decontamination suits to care for mock patients, said John Lazarus, Florida Hospital Fish Memorial emergency department director. While we have performed several educational sessions with our decontamination team, this was the first time in years that we were able to practice all elements of emergency decontamination care, and it went very smoothly. Overall, this was a very successful preparedness drill, and Im so proud of our team for their hard work during this exercise, all while we were also caring for real emergency patients in our ER.

About Florida Hospital Fish Memorial

Florida Hospital Fish Memorial is a member of Adventist Health System, a faith-based health care organization 44 hospital campuses and nearly 8,300 licensed beds in 10 states. With 175-beds, Florida Hospital Fish Memorial is fully accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and provides exceptional, patient-focused care to the DeBary, Deltona, Orange City and Sanford communities. The hospitals freestanding outpatient facility, Deltona Health Park, offers a variety of services including pediatric specialists.