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Fayette, Henry team up for disaster drill

By LEE WILLIAMS
lwilliams@TheCitizenNews.com

Starr’s Mill High School in Fayetteville was rocked by a bomb detonated Wednesday during an outdoor concert.

Twenty people were killed by the blast. Bloody bodies and body parts lay scattered everywhere.

A father held up his blood-stained baby with missing limbs and cried, “Why?” while rescue crews hustled to round up the dead and give aid to the injured. Medical helicopters and ambulances stood at the ready.

This was the scenario more than 100 students and an untold number of firefighters, rescue crews, public health personnel and others were faced with during an all-hazards drill Wednesday afternoon.

The students were participating in the Basic and Advanced Disaster Life Support course developed by the Medical College of Georgia and the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy.

“The course is designed to better prepare firefighters, EMTs, paramedics, nurses, public health and hospital employees and administrators from across the region for potential disaster incidents,” said Capt. Pete Nelms, spokesman for the Fayette County Department of Fire and Emergency Services.

The purpose of the drill is to prepare future healthcare givers and current public safety workers in the event of a terrorist attack or natural disaster such as a tornado or massive flooding.

The drill was made possible through a $62,000 grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration or HRSA. Capt. Steve Folden of the Fayette County Department of Fire and Emergency Services and Battalion Chief Joe White of the Henry County Fire Department helped organize the event. The men, with the help of five others, had been planning the event for two years.

“This is to teach fire departments and EMS how to work together with law enforcement which usually we have a history of no problem doing that, but take public health in, take people from plant management and environmental control at the hospital,” Folden said. “We’ve got public health nurses, epidemiologists, pharmacy techs and others in the class so that we know we can all come together and be singing off the same page when we need to.”