Contra Costa Health (CCH), along with local hospitals, medical clinics and first-responder agencies, will conduct a countywide drill June 12-13 to test their emergency plans and ability to respond to sudden surges in patients who need emergency care.
Visitors may see unusual activity at the county’s acute-care hospitals and other staging locations on these days, such as large numbers of ambulances or other emergency vehicles, staff members wearing personal protective equipment, or people play-acting injuries or illness.
Any participating area of a facility that is accessible to the public will be marked to let visitors know the activity is not a true emergency.
“We want the community to be aware of the exercise, so they do not mistake the first-responder activity around the county for a real emergency,” CCH Deputy Director Matt Kaufmann said.
Participating hospitals include Contra Costa Regional Medical Center, John Muir Health’s Concord and Walnut Creek Hospitals, Sutter Delta Medical Center, San Ramon Regional Medical Center, and Kaiser Permanente’s hospitals in Antioch, Walnut Creek and Richmond.
Contra Costa Hazardous Materials Program and its Public Health and Emergency Medical Services divisions are participating, as are numerous community organizations, skilled nursing facilities, fire departments and other public agencies.
The Medical Response and Surge Exercise (MRSE) simulates a disaster that tests the emergency response capabilities of participants and is an annual requirement for federal funding related to hospital emergency preparedness. About 100 volunteers will play the role of patients exposed to a hazardous chemical.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency participated in planning for the exercise and will help to oversee it.
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