May 4, 2023
May 4, 2023 – MARSHALL COUNTY, Al- The North Alabama Health Care Coalition held a drill Wednesday that included Marshall Medical Centers North and South to train medical personnel in handling multiple emergencies at once.
Marshall Medical North Emergency Department Director Audra Ford said the scenario started with notification of a nuclear plant explosion in Morgan County. It was further escalated with an active shooter and an 18-wheeler gas truck being overturned. Within the escalation, each ED received 10 mock patients from the active shooter event. The scenario further escalated as the EDs also received mock self-evacuating patients from the KOA campground in Morgan County, which was within a mile of the explosion.
During the event, Decatur Morgan Hospital did a mock evacuation of their facility and the Decatur Parkway campus. Marshall Medical Centers did not receive any evacuating patients but other affiliates did.
“We learned from the objectives of the exercise and were able to test many aspects of our emergency preparedness plan,” Ford said during a debriefing. Ford also commented that drills “give us the opportunity to work with external agencies that would be there for us during a real life event.”
“This exercise gave us the opportunity to test many aspects of our emergency preparedness,” said Marshall South ED Director Renee’ Jordan. “We learned a lot.”