On Wednesday October 21 Sierra Blanca Medical Center and Alamosa Family Medical Center will be part of a local Pandemic Drill/Exercise with the State of Colorado. Valley-Wide Health Systems will be doing a mock simulation of how we would respond during a pandemic.
SAN LUIS VALLEY – A regional functional exercise will take place on October 21st that is designed to test community’s response procedures during a health crisis. The exercise will focus on specific strengths and gaps prioritized by the San Luis Valley’s two Healthcare Coalitions. “Playing” from seven different exercise sites around the Valley simultaneously, participants will test response plans to help identify training needs, best practices and areas for emergency preparedness improvement. Exercises are a safe place for individual agencies to integrate current plans with the region’s response system and to test how effective the collective response to a health threat will be.
Participating Healthcare Coalition members include all hospitals and public health agencies in the Valley, as well as county Emergency Managers, SLV Behavioral Health Group, Valley Wide Health Systems, SLV RETAC, SLV Medical Reserve Corps. Other healthcare and emergency response organizations such as Law Enforcement, EMS and Fire, Coroners, and organizations that serve those with special needs or other vulnerabilities are invited to participate as well and may contact their local public health agency for more information. The community is taking an active role in this exercise in preparation for a statewide full scale multi-day exercise that will take place in 2017.
