Mock Emergency Drill Tested Many Agencies' Response

SEBRING - Wednesday's emergency preparedness drill at the Agri-Civic Center was only practice, but almost 200 volunteers and county employees acted like the mock exercise was real.

Andrew Pease, a Sun 'n' Lake Elementary School student, gave up a day of summer break to volunteer and portray a "victim," along with his mother Mary and sister Becky.

The 9-year-old took the drill to heart and said he was "a little scared."

"My mom tells me to not talk to strangers, but I trust the police and others," said Andrew Pease. "This is like some kind of play, but it's real, too."

Ann Rowe McMullen oversaw the event for Emergency Response Educator and Consultants, Inc. (EREC). The Ocala company evaluates county response at about 25 similar events each year and will present a detailed "unbiased report" to participating Highlands County agencies within 30 days.

The volunteers played their roles very well, said Rowe -McMullen. "They didn't over react and gave us a real-time gauge. We're very pleased with the amount of participation."

Cathy Albritton, of Florida Hospital Heartland Division, said staff treated the drill "just as if it was the real thing. Our training is constant. It never ends."

Volunteers acted out roles to tax and push emergency workers to think on their feet and use their training.

Orange cards describing their roles were given to some volunteers who became belligerent or non-compliant, while others were unable to speak English, and some had special needs and many had mobility issues and trouble walking.

The local Red Cross even had regular volunteers on hand to council anxious "victims."

"People in disasters are ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances," said Art Harriman, director of the Highlands County Red Cross. "Normally they wouldn't have any trouble coping day to day."

The drill spilled over into the Emergency Operations Center, the county administration building and Florida Hospital Heartland Division campus in Sebring, Lake Placid and Wauchula.

Several scenarios were created to give county workers a chance to put long-practiced plans into action.
Terrorists were supposed to have planted anthrax poison at the local car race track in the water misting system used to cool race fans.

Florida Hospital Heartland Division had an unbelievable string of bad luck: A fire broke out, a bomb was discovered , a tornado touched down, the flow of oxygen and gas was turned off and the morgue filled up during the exercise at the Sebring hospital.

Power was cut at the EOC and Director Bill Nichols and crew were forced to set up an alternative headquarters for the drill at the county government center.

"We moved very rapidly from the primary facility to an alternative facility in less than an hour," said Nichols. "That's pretty good."

The following agencies were charged with distributing pills when symptoms from anthrax exposure started becoming noticeable.

The Highlands County Health Department, Highlands County Emergency Management, Highlands County Sheriffs Office, Highlands Board of County Commissioners, Sebring Police Department, Highland County Fire Department, Highlands County EMS, Highlands County School Board, Highlands County American Red Cross, Lake Placid Police Department, Florida Hospital- Heartland Division, Florida Department of Health and the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

EREC workers, including Lee Newsome, watched from the sidelines with clipboards.
"We're not evaluating individuals, we're evaluating the process," said Newsome. "It's a learning environment.

Capt. Paul Blackman, who oversees uniformed road patrol at the Highlands County Sheriffs Office, talked about the difference between drills and planning sessions.

"We get to know people's faces on a working basis," said Blackman. "We're familiarized with the decision makers.

"This is a confidence builder. It let's us know what we need to do to improve."

Kay Mollenkopf, public information officer with the health department, said that many of the department's 115 employees were acting as victims, while everyone participated. She, too, was happy to see practice become more real.

"We've written these plans with the EOC and sheriff's office and never gotten the chance to do it. We talked our way through it with a table top.

"It's measurement of how well the plan works, what works and what we need to change."

Chuck Krug, preparedness planner with the health department, would likely agree.

"What looks good on paper six months ago might not match reality.