O’Hare Site of “Noble Lifesaver” Exercise

CHICAGO, July 19, 2012 – What would happen to patients if the hospital they were in was affected by an earthquake or other disaster? That was the scenario Wednesday at O’Hare International Airport as nearly 150 staff members from the Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital and the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center participated in an emergency exercise called “Noble Lifesaver”.

The purpose of the exercise was to train VA medical staff on how to transfer patients from an aircraft and transport them to local medical facilities in the event of an emergency.

A Georgia Air Guard plane brings “patients” to O’Hare

O’Hare and the two VA medical facilities are members of the National Disaster Medial System (NDMS), a federally coordinated system that assists theDepartment of Veterans Affairs medical systems in dealing with the medical impacts of major peacetime disasters and in caring for casualties evacuated to theU.S. from overseas armed conventional conflicts.

The day-long exercise script called for more that 40 “patients”, both mannequin and human, to be airlifted from the southern Illinois, St. Louis and Kentucky areas to O’Hare because hospitals at those locations were damaged by an earthquake that registered 7.7 on the Richter scale. When they arrived at O’Hare on a Georgia Air Guard cargo plane, they were transferred to waiting ambulances, assessed for their medical conditions and treated in an inflatable, air conditioned mobile Emergency Room (ER) in the South Cargo area at O’Hare before being taken to area hospitals.

Medical staff from Edward Hines and Jesse Brown VA Hospitals transport a “patient” to an ambulance

Other agencies participating in today’s exercise included the Chicago Fire Department, “patient” volunteers from the Center at Naval Station Great Lakes and EMS ambulance operators.

The Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) regularlyhosts and participates in exercises such as this with its Federal, State, City and airport partners in order to test its preparedness to react and respond to all types of incidents, and to ensure the safety and security of travelers and employees at Chicago’s airports.

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