News Release Details
CONTACT: Michelle Eidam, Firefighter/Paramedic/PIO, Cell: (916) 616-2432
WHO: Join us as state, local, and federal agencies engage in a full scale exercise to test the Sacramento region’s ability to respond to a mass patient distribution emergency.
Participating agencies include: Metro Fire, Sacramento County Public Health, CalEMA, EMSA, CA Air National Guard, GA Air National Guard, Sacramento County Airports, Travis AFB, CalSTAR, Reach Air, Sacramento County OES, Sacramento County Sheriff, Homeland Security, RDMHS Region 4, El Dorado County Public Health, Yolo County Public Health, Placer County, Sacramento County Department of Health and Human Services, UC Davis Medical Center, Mercy Hospital System, Sutter Medical Center, Kaiser Permanente, CalFire, Folsom Fire, Sacramento Fire, DMAT, Hiram Johnson High School, Sacramento Regional Incident Management Team and roughly 40 other local and state agencies.
WHAT: Operation ESCAPE is an exercise in patient distribution. The Sacramento area hospitals and medical facilities are part of a statewide mass casualty plan to ensure that in the event of a disaster, patients needing health care can be transported away from affected areas. Operation ESCAPE consists of a simulated earthquake that strikes the Bay Area, with patients being transported via C-130 to Mather Airport for distribution to area hospitals. Approximately 100 patients will be loaded onto the C-130, taxied across the tarmac to waiting medical teams, followed through the national and regional patient tracking systems, and then loaded into ambulances for transport to hospitals.
WHEN: Thursday, November 15th, 2012 11am-3pm
WHERE: 7040 Bazley Way, Mather Airport, Mather, CA
PHOTO OPPORTUNITY: Throughout the event there will be photo & video opportunities with agency personnel, aircraft personnel, volunteers and participants. In addition, multiple helicopters, a Georgia-based C-130, and approximately 15 ambulances will be participating in the exercise.
Media crews are invited to arrive at 10:30am for the C-130 arrival and the process of patient distribution. Media will be allowed onto the tarmac with a Mather Airport escort only. News vehicles should park in the parking area on Skymaster and Bazley Way, adjacent to the exercise. Live trucks are not allowed on the ramp; nor will cables be allowed to obstruct the pathway on the tarmac or the hangar.
