GUAYNABO, Puerto Rico – The Government of Puerto Rico is teaming up with FEMA’s Center for Domestic Preparedness to train emergency and healthcare workers to respond to mass casualty incidents.
A four-day training course and field exercise are planned for May 29 to June 1 at Ramón Ruiz Arnau Hospital in Bayamon, about 30 minutes south of San Juan.
At least 120 emergency responders and healthcare leaders will participate in the training offered by the Puerto Rico Emergency Management Agency, the Puerto Rico Department of Health, the University of Puerto Rico, FEMA and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
The course, Hospital Emergency Response Training for Mass Casualty Incidents, will be taught by experts from the Center for Domestic Preparedness (https://cdp.dhs.gov/) and local Puerto Rico experts. The training is designed to prepare emergency responders and healthcare workers to respond effectively to incidents involving chemical, biological, explosive, radiological and other hazardous materials.
Three days of classroom lectures will culminate June 1 with an all-hazard, mass casualty field drill where students practice what they learned in the classroom. During the field exercise, responders will operate an emergency treatment area to triage contaminated ambulatory and non-ambulatory patients.
The training represents the first time the Center for Domestic Preparedness has offered a mass casualty training and field exercise outside its campus in Anniston, Ala. The center provides advanced, all-hazards training to about 50,000 emergency responders annually from state, local, tribal, and territorial governments as well as the federal government, foreign governments and private companies. The scope of training includes preparedness, protection and response.
Instructors from the center have a minimum of 10 years’ experience in their field of expertise and have served a key role in response to at least one major incident, accident or disaster.
For more information on Hurricane María recovery, visit fema.gov/disaster/4339.
For more information on the training and field exercise, contact Norma Negrón-Falcón, public information officer for University Hospital Dr. Ramón Ruiz Arnau, at 787-787-5151, Ext. 8042. She can also be reached by email at: nnegron@salud.pr.gov.http://nnegron@salud.pr.gov.
Disaster recovery assistance is available without regard to race, color, religion, nationality, sex, age, disability, English proficiency or economic status. If you or someone you know has been discriminated against, call FEMA toll-free at 800-621-FEMA (3362) 711/VRS - Video Relay Service). Multilingual operators are available. (Press 2 for Spanish). TTY call 800-462-7585.
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