Paris and Lamar County Emergency Services Annual Exercise
Public Service Announcement
Released April 20, 2017
Lamar County, Texas – For the past several months, Paris Regional Medical Center, North Lamar ISD, local emergency services, first responders and law enforcement officers have been planning a “mass casualty incident” training exercise in Lamar County. The purpose of this exercise is to test the emergency services preparedness, and emergency response, to a mass casualty incident involving a school bus. This drill tests the ability of the school, as well as the hospital, to respond to the patients’ and parents’ needs. This exercise is expected to take place on Friday, April 28, beginning at 1 p.m. and will conclude by 4 p.m. Full-scale training exercises are required annually to maintain the hospital’s preparedness and accreditation, as well as school districts’ ability to integrate with local emergency services.
Agencies from all over the region participating planned this exercise since December 2016. With the recent tragedies of school bus accidents in Talco and Lumberton, emergency planning officials are conducting this training exercise in our area. This planning and preparation training honors those lost in these unfortunate events and furthers our commitment to our children and our community. It is our goal to instill in everyone in the community the importance of stopping for school buses – “Stop on Red, Kids Ahead!”
As part of this exercise, there will be live radio traffic on public safety frequencies regarding a bus accident in Powderly, Law enforcement, EMS, Air Medical and fire units will be dispatched as if responding to a real incident. The words “Drill, Drill, Drill” or “This is an Exercise” will be stated before the information is given out to begin the event. North Lamar ISD parents, as well as hospital patients, staff and visitors will be made aware of the drill on April 24, and reminders will continue throughout the week. Please know that there will be emergency vehicles responding in and around Parker Elementary, along with the PRMC campus during the afternoon hours of April 28. We want to assure everyone this is a planned, live response of local emergency services to a mock disaster exercise.
We will utilize social media, electronic and print media to make sure there is no confusion as to this being only an exercise. There will also be news media and outside TV stations’ vehicles in town for this event. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Erin Barnes, Director of Marketing/Public Information Officer for Paris Regional Medical Center, at 903-495-2471 or [email protected].