06/20/2007

Jersey City Medical Center Responders
Trained For Large-Scale Incidents
Jersey City Medical Center's Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Department has completed training more than 200 Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) and paramedics to manage large-scale emergencies. They are the region's first responders in cases of natural disaster or terrorist attack.

"Most EMS departments only train a portion of EMTs and paramedics to operate specialized equipment," said Chris Rinn, the director of EMS. "Hopefully our first responders will never have to put this training to work, but we are now fully prepared to meet any emergency no matter what," he said.

The training program is geared to provide rapid response emergency treatment during any crisis, including floods, terrorist attack, power failure, traffic accidents, etc where there are more than five casualties. The equipment the EMTs and paramedics trained on includes the Mass Care Truck, Waterfront Strike Team Trailer and Metropolitan Medical Response System Trailer. They also received training on a casualty sorting system, Simple Triage and Rapid Transport System (START). This provides a framework for rescuers to identify and separate patients rapidly according to the severity of their injuries.

The Waterfront Strike Team Trailer has enough supplies to treat up to 100 patients at one time. In the event of a large scale incident on the waterfront or mass evacuation of New York City, they will be deployed along the coast to treat victims. The need for these trailers became apparent on 9/11 when victims from New York arrived at different points along the Hudson River.

The Mass Care Truck is stocked with equipment and supplies to assist rescuers in treating large numbers of casualties at one time. For night operations capabilities, it is equipped with a light tower and generators.

The Metropolitan Medical Response System Trailers contain medications, blankets and tents for decontamination, command posts and capacity to handle an overflow of patients from the hospital.

All three vehicles are equipped with Oxygen Multi-lators that can supply oxygen to large numbers of people at once.

Will Vaughan, Senior Paramedic of the EMS, noted that it was vital that all the EMTs and paramedics went through this training. "The initial reaction of the first responder is crucial for setting the tone of rescue efforts. Any member of the Jersey City Medical Center EMS department could be first to arrive on the scene of a disaster," he said.

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