Daily Dose of Terror: Drills,Drills, & Drills

Terrorist attack: Sunday drill has flashes of reality (NE)

http://www.mccookgazette.com/story/1284501.html

Kaitlyn Douglas of McCook "recovers" from injuries sustained in a "terrorist take-over" of the McCook airport Sunday morning

A 'hostage' exits from an airplane "held under siege" in a full-scale drill at McCook Regional Airport on Sunday morning. Wielding weapons are members of the Nebraska State Patrol SWAT team.

It was a drill.
It had its goals and lessons to be learned -- improve communications and enhance cooperation.
It had its flashes of reality and intensity -- a real loss of power and an honest-to-goodness severe weather warning.
And it had its moments of fun -- "He wants what? A goat?!"
Red Willow County Emergency Management staged a terrorist attack and take-over at McCook Regional Airport Sunday morning to help prepare emergency responders for the possibility of the real thing. Lessons learned from individual pieces of the training scenario -- such as command post organization, hazardous materials response, decontamination -- can be invaluable in any emergency situation.
In drill coordinator Bud Keenportz' imagination, terrorists flew into the McCook airport on a commercial flight, to meet up with fellow terrorists posing as airport employees. Together they would hold hostages until their demands were met: Remove all American troops from Iraq and, "Give us one goat." Oh, and the hostage-taker very politely thanked officers for moving their SWAT team member away from the airport chain-link fence.
Terrorists "killed" a hostage in the hangar and another in the terminal, and threw another onto the tarmac outside the airplane. "Is he dead, or alive?" They traded a pregnant female -- "in active labor" -- for donuts and "untampered water." (cont..)

Arnot holds mass vaccination drill (NY)
http://www.star-gazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071015/UPDATE/310150028

Arnot Health held a drill today to prepare for a mass vaccination in the event of a major public health emergency or pandemic.During the drill, named a POD or Point Of Dispensing, employees and volunteers of Arnot Ogden Medical Center were offered the flu vaccine. All employees were asked to participate in the drill to test Arnot Ogden Medical Center's mass vaccination plans in the event of a public health emergency. The drill consisted of three different sessions 7 to 9 a.m., 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 to 4 p.m. Arnot Ogden Medical Center was prepared to distribute more than 1,000 doses of the flu vaccine; over 700 had been distributed by 1 p.m. The dispensing site, in the Clute Education building on the Arnot Ogden Medical Center campus, was set up to vaccinate a large amount of people very quickly, which would be necessary in a pandemic situation (cont..)

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