CORVALLIS, Ore. - Oregon State University and Samaritan Health Services are joining with a number of community organizations to conduct a mass casualty incident exercise on Thursday, Oct. 20 from 6 a.m. to noon.

The exercise will take place at four separate Willamette Valley locations including Reser Stadium, Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center, Samaritan Albany General Hospital and Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital.

The exercise will simulate a gas line explosion at Reser Stadium during a home football game that results in a mass casualty incident. The exercise will test how well the different organizations within Benton and Linn counties respond to an incident, communicate with each other during a disaster and how quickly they can triage and treat victims. A REACH aircraft will transport participating "patient actors" to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center. Volunteer patients come from the community and OSU student organizations.

"These types of exercises bring responders together and operating under a unified command structure responding to a single incident," said Michael Bamberger, OSU Emergency Preparedness manager. "During the exercise, OSU will be training our Incident Management Team, and OSU Student Health Services and Counseling and Psychological services will be practicing their disaster response plans."

To keep the exercise scene safe for participants involved in the drill, Bamberger asks members of the public to not interfere or approach the activity on the east side of Reser Stadium (Gates A, B, C).   During the exercise, Corvallis Fire and EMS personnel will remain available for actual emergencies. 

Source: 

Michael Bamberger, 541-737-4713; [email protected]

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