Emergency agencies hold infectious disease training

Lee Erwin Reporting
lerwin@clarksvillenow.com

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – The Montgomery County Health Department and Montgomery County Emergency Medical Services (MCEMS) along with other agencies held a full scale infectious disease training exercise Wednesday, October 29. The exercise simulated a patient showing up at the health department complaining of symptoms which could be linked to a possible infectious disease like Ebola.

Those symptoms include fever, headaches, muscle aches and pains, abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or unexplained bleeding. The patient would also be asked questions to find out if they have traveled to a country over the last 21 days that is experiencing an outbreak of Ebola or been in contact with a person who has an infectious disease.

As part of the full scale exercise Paramedics with EMS were called and arrived at the health department, were briefed on the situation, and suited up in their Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). They entered the building and escorted the patient who was already in protective covering put on by health department personnel out to a waiting ambulance.

The patient was taken to Gateway Medical Center and escorted inside an outside door of the building near but not through the emergency room entrance. Inside, Gateway medical staff who were also in protective gear evaluated the patient while others assisted the EMS Paramedics with the careful removal and disposal of their PPE.

Other local agencies involved with the training exercise included The Clarksville Police Department, Clarksville Fire Rescue, Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency, Montgomery County Volunteer Fire Service and E-911.

There have been several local and regional exercises over the past few weeks by agencies working with the procedures of handling infectious diseases. Public Health Director Joey Smith, who played the part of the patient in Wednesday’s training exercise, said there will be more training exercises to follow in the coming weeks.

MCEMS Director, Jimmie Edwards, talked about Wednesday’s training exercise. “We thought it went well. As with any drill there’s always something that needs improvement and we’re glad we had a collaborative exercise and it worked well,” said Edwards.