First responders participate in emergency drill

THOMPSON FALLS – What if an epidemic was to hit Sanders County? Would the county be ready?

In hopes of answering this question, the Sanders County Public Health Department held an emergency preparedness drill, teaching first responders how to react to a mass influx of disease or chemical warfare.

The drill was for the mass dispending of medication.

“Emergency measures and protocol would be set into play in the event Sanders County’s public health was jeopardized by an unusual strain of influenza (flu), a case of bacterial meningitis within a crowded setting, mass exposure to a rabid animal, a biological event, or a case of Hepatitis A in a food handler,” stated the press release.

First responder volunteers filled the Thompson Falls Rural Fire Department on Thursday, April 17, both running the stations and going through them.

“We are working with federal, state and local partners to ensure we have the capability to prepare and respond to a public health emergency,” said Sanders County Public Health Director Karen Morey in the press release. “We are drilling with our local first responder partners setting up a temporary mass dispensing site.”

The epidemic at everyone’s forefront of the drill was “Influenza 2014.” The mock scenario had four different stations. First, a person at the door would determine whether or not the person in question was in need of a flu shot.

If the “patient” was already experiencing flu like symptoms, they would be sent to the hospital for treatment, but if the person was in good health, they would be directed to the first station.

Here, paperwork was filled out and materials on the flu were handed out including information on how the virus is transmitted, what to do if you get sick and possible causes of the flu.

The second station checked all the forms and asked if any allergic reactions have occurred with previous injections.

The third station was where a “flu shot” was administered, and the last and final stop checked through the paperwork one last time.

According to Jan Parmelee, Sanders County Public Health information officer, the first drill of its kind seemed to run smoothly, without any glitches.

Bill Naegeli, Sanders County emergency services coordinator, explained the project had been in the process for quite a while. Three or four years ago, the county received a Point of Distribution box.

According to Naegeli, the drill went hand-in-hand with a state public health exercise where the local county health nurses had to report on a disease.

They simulated that those reports were sent to the state, depicting that the flu was found in all 56 counties.

“Our state decided that we have an issue going on, so in conjunction with DDS, our training coordinator, they activated the Strategic National Stockpile,” Naegeli explained.

A shipment came into Helena from the Federal Government in an exercise named the Big Push. The medicine was then distributed from Helena to the different counties.

“Last week we got three boxes actually simulating the disbursement,” Naegeli explained.

With the “medicine” now in hand, the county was ready to run their drill. They administered the flu shot to the local people in the area, with the first responders in the forefront.

“Over the years, our plan has been that we want to get our first responders, our critical people, vaccinated first so that if it really gets to be an epidemic, we have people to take care of the rest of the population,” Naegeli said.

With the first responders immunized through the drill, they would now be able to deal with the general population, helping them get the shots they need without a risk of infection or contamination.

Although this type of drill has never had to be used in a real life scenario, Naegeli feels it’s important to prepare for it.

“I hope we never do (use it) but we are trained for it so that if it does happen, we’ve got an idea of what we are doing,” Naegeli said.

Fire chief of the Thompson Falls Rural Fire Department, Mark Reeser, allowed the drill to be conducted at the rural fire department.

The fire department can be used as an emergency shelter and Reeser stated they had their own generator, gravity fed water and a kitchenette to help feed people. Along with showers and bathrooms, the hall is equipped with everything one would need in the event of an epidemic or outbreak of some kind.

The hall also has one-time use sheets and blankets stored at the facility, which were donated by Billy Hill and the Tri-State Veterans Stand Down.

Reeser stated the training was good for everyone involved and all of the emergency services in Sanders County were invited to attend.

He would like to see more set up in the future to help ensure the process ran smoothly, if it was ever needed.