CDP Training Affects Tornado Response: Joplin's Hospital Evacuates

In May 2011, as tornado sirens sounded, hospital workers at St. John's Regional Medical Center rushed to pull 183 patients to safety as one of the largest tornadoes on record bared down on their southwestern Missouri city. Breaking glass and the roar of the powerful storm deafened the dark hospital as power was lost.

Dennis Manley, the hospital's director of quality and risk management, played a critical role as the hospital's incident commander following the deadly tornado. Guiding his hospital through a chaotic disaster was challenging but not completely unfamiliar territory thanks to training he received two years prior at the Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) in Anniston, Ala.

"The CDP training is about as close as you can get to the real thing," Manley said. "I wanted realistic training and the CDP delivered. There is no substitute to real-life experience, but the CDP training mimicked it very closely."

Manley attended the CDP's Healthcare Leadership (HCL) for All-Hazards Incidents training in 2009, followed by Hospital Emergency Response Training (HERT) for Mass-Casualty Incidents later that year. According to Manley, the training not only enhanced his ability to respond to a mass casualty incident, but also provided an example of the many emergency roles his staff would tackle because of the tornado.

"The CDP training helped me fulfill my role with more confidence," Manley said. Manley stressed the hands-on portions of training were most helpful and has recommended CDP training to his leadership and colleagues in the healthcare community. He also stated that training in an actual hospital, the Noble Training Facility (NTF), better prepared him for the disaster and ultimate response.

"By training in a hospital, the experience is more life-like and real," Manley said. "You feel like you are actually participating in a disaster, not just pretending. That makes it easier to apply what you have learned to the real thing."