Major earthquake response exercise to strengthen team in an emergency

“Exercise, exercise, exercise” was called over the loudspeakers at the North Las Vegas VA Medical Center, before notifying staff that a massive 8.5 earthquake has just hit North Las Vegas and the epicenter in the Aliante Hotel and Casino. The quake caused major structural damage to the medical center triggering a total building evacuation.

Las Vegas isn’t averse to responding to a massive event with the Oct. 1 tragedy. Hospitals, like the VA Medical Center, test and validate plans, policies, procedures and capabilities to evaluate their preparedness program.

“Nevada is the 3rd most seismic state in the country and the number one natural hazard identified in the state’s Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment Report is earthquakes,” said Emergency Preparedness Coordinator for VA Southern Nevada Healthcare System (VASNHS) Dr. Felix Acevedo. “It is only a matter of time when Nevada may experience a large-scale earthquake, which may require the healthcare system to response and recover.”

Dr. Desiree Crawford, Las Vegas VA’s Nursing Executive and the Operations Section Chief for the exercise commented on the unity and teamwork that the nursing staff displayed. 

“It was phenomenal the way the teams collaborated and communicated showed that we were on one accord,” said Crawford. “The nursing staff was very proactive, instead of being reactive, with key individuals who had the pulse of activity in the clinical areas and quickly identify evacuation status of patients.”

Key to this exercise was identifying and planning for procedural deficiencies.

“This was a potential real-life scenario,” said Kristin Murray who was the incident Commander for the exercise. “It was impressive how fast we were able to talk communicate when there was an issue or problem how we were able to reach out to the correct individuals to make sure that everything came together.”

Acevedo facilitated the development and execution of the exercise to identify resource requirements, capability gaps, strengths, areas for improvement, and potential best practices.

“One area for improvement was that staff need to review all the assigned rally points and ensure employees understand their primary and alternate rally points,” said Acevedo. “Another area of emphasis is better coordination of obtaining ground transportation to transfer patients.” 

Patients were transported to Mike O’Callaghan Military Medical Center as Nellis Air Force Base as a contingency for safety and to continue care.