CLEWISTON, Fla. — Hendry County first responders say they're better prepared for large-scale emergencies after conducting a comprehensive mass-casualty exercise that tested coordination among the school district, law enforcement, fire departments, and Hendry Regional Medical Center.
Watch Fox 4's Allie Kaiser get a look a behind the scenes look at the mass-casualty exercise:
The training exercise simulated a violent attack at Clewiston High School, with students from the school's criminal justice program acting as victims. The exercise was designed to evaluate the county's emergency response capabilities and identify areas for improvement.
"Being as small as we are, to get this much involvement and to get all those different entities together, just speaks volumes," said Curtis Clay, director of safety, security, and transportation for Hendry County School District.
The exercise involved multiple agencies responding to the mock emergency at the school before shifting focus to Hendry Regional Medical Center, where hospital staff practiced managing an influx of patients.
"We may have our day-to-day operations that could easily accommodate a steady stream of patients that enter our facility. If we really flood those systems with larger patient volumes and incidents that they don't see every day, it allows us to tighten up our processes," said David Theroux, CEO of Hendry Regional Medical Center.
During the hospital portion of the exercise, Fox 4's Allie Kaiser observed how an incident command center would operate during a real emergency. Dakota Redd, the hospital's chief nursing officer, made critical decisions to secure the facility and efficiently deploy staff.
"The events give us a chance to kind of pressure test our system, our processes, and our people," Redd said.
The exercise is mandatory for the hospital and helps identify areas for improvement across participating agencies.
"Communication. I don't know that I've ever been part of an event like this where communication wasn't number one on the list," Redd said.
The school district identified the need to assign personnel to specific roles, including someone to guide emergency services during a real incident.
First responders said the training helped them feel more confident about their emergency preparedness.
"It just makes me feel a little bit more comfortable that if the incident truly did happen, that those same entities are going to be responding and doing everything in their power to help us save as many lives as possible," Clay said.
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