Emergency management team hosts tabletop drill

About 40 representatives from several counties came together for an emergency management exercise Monday morning at the Palouse Empire Fairgrounds.

Hannah Kimball, Pullman Regional Hospital representative, said multiple counties and entities were able to attend the exercise including participants from Asotin, Columbia, Whitman and Garfield counties.

They were presented with a given scenario that included a fully-loaded chemical semi-truck colliding with a school bus on the Central Ferry bridge. The scenario had several injuries and product from the truck leaking into the Snake River.

Participant groups who were seated at separate tables talked about how they would respond and then presented their plan to the group.

Attendees were grouped together based on if they worked for the hospital, DOT, etc. The groups had to discuss the notification process, how their agency would respond, resources needed, procedures and challenges.

Robin Cocking, Whitman County Emergency Management deputy director, said this event helped regional entities network with each other.

"From the evaluation forms we collected, we got very positive reviews," Kimball said.

The regional hospitals were able to share their emergency management system with other entities, a system that is not well-known by other organizations, she said.

Hospitals in Washington are required to hold exercises like this to meet federal requirements.

"This is something we should continue, and always work on our communication," Kimball said.

The American Red Cross (ARC) also presented at the event. An ARC employee discussed after an incident an assessment is needed to determine if "feeding" is needed. The ARC has to be informed of the details of the incident. They provide food during mass casualty incidents for families and responders.