Exercise Hurricane Don Demonstrates North Carolina Medical Reserve Corps’ Real-world Response Capabilities
By Kimberly Clement, MPH, Paramedic, Program Manager, Healthcare Preparedness Program, Division of Health Service Regulation, Office of Emergency Medical Services, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
From 1851 to 2019, 84 hurricanes made landfall in North Carolina. This year, NOAA predicts that the Atlantic hurricane season will be particularly active, and North Carolina Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) units recently trained with area responders before the first storm of the season threatened the area. Exercise Hurricane Don tested our ability to provide the kinds of support that keep people healthy when disaster strikes.
North Carolina uses its State Medical Response System, which includes our North Carolina Office of Emergency Medical Services (NCOEMS) staff; regional Health Care Coalitions; Medical Reserve Corps units; and governmental and private health care organizations across the state. When there is a state activation that requires public health and medical support under Emergency Support Function #8 (ESF-8), the North Carolina State Medical Response System is activated.
In preparation for hurricane season, the NCOEMS organizes an annual full-scale exercise to test policies and procedures for emergency operations, state medical support shelters, the North Carolina mobile disaster hospital, patient movement, and more. The Capital Medical Reserve Corps and the NC-400 State Medical Assistance Team MRC provided clinical and non-clinical support as part of this year’s exercise. These MRC units provided staffing support at the mobile disaster hospital, a five-bed emergency department, and the state medical support shelter. The state medical support shelter provides assistance to individuals who have been displaced from their health care community and would have difficulty maintaining their usual level of health care without this support.
MRC clinicians trained in the roles they would have during a major hurricane or other type of disaster. Our clinicians dedicated a total of 134 hours to hurricane preparedness training during this event. Without the engagement of the State Medical Response System and our MRC units, the success of our disaster preparedness efforts would fall short of meeting the needs of our 10.8 million residents of North Carolina.
Exercise Hurricane Don simulated a Category 3 hurricane making landfall in Brunswick County resulting in a major disruption to the health care system. In this scenario, approximately 250 patients needed to be cared for in a state medical support shelter. Dozens of patients needed emergency department level of care in an area where the local hospital had just five beds.
Exercise Hurricane Don ensured we had the protocols, supplies, and medical logistics support for the level of patient care required during a large-scale hurricane. During this exercise, our team tested procedures for activating our MRC units; our state’s Emergency System for the Advance Registration of Volunteer Health Professionals (ESAR-VHP); and our check-in and check-out procedures for staff in operational sites.
After the event, participants provided an evaluation of the exercise and helped with the identification of additional training and exercise needs that can be incorporated into our training and exercise plan as we continue to bolster our MRCs through the use of MRC-STTRONG funding.
