LIJ conducts mock dirty bomb exercise

Richard Tedesco

Some people were running, disoriented. Others lay collapsed on the ground in one of the parking lots at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park.

The scene on Thursday had all the signs of a dirty bomb attack at a public event. 

Which was as intended. 

The purpose of the what turned out to be a staged event simulating an attack was to prepare Long Island Jewish Medical Center staff for extreme emergencies.

“We try to put our students on edge a little bit. Nothing will adequately replicate a real-life scenario,” said Scott Strauss, corporate director of security and emergency management for the North Shore-LIJ Health System. “You need to be able to think on your feet when the curveball hits you. Don’t run. Run in.” 

Strauss, who also serves as mayor of Mineola, said the staged emergency was the result of a public/private partnership between North Shore-LIJ Health System and the Center for Domestic Preparedness, which maintains a training facility in Alabama.

“We’ve started to form a partnership with them,” Strauss said.

The victims of the mock attack, 25 nursing students from Malloy College, were treated for radiation contamination by Long Island Jewish Medical Center nurses and other staff wearing contamination suits in a tent set up for that purpose. Then they were brought into a makeshift emergency room for treatment. Dummies were also used in the simulated emergency treatment after a dirty bomb attack.

The partnership between North Shore-LIJ and the Center for Domestic Preparedness has been in the works for the past two years. People who want training for extraordinary medical emergencies like a dirty bombing can’t easily get to Alabama, Strauss said. 

So North Shore-LIJ is bringing the training to them.

“It happened to be just after these tragic bombings in Boston,” Strauss said. “God forbid we have an incident, this group has been designated to be prepared to a certain level.”

The 19 nurses and other Long Island Jewish Medical Center staffers who participated will be given federal certification to deal with a radiation emergency for participating in the exercise. Strauss said another, similar training exercise is scheduled for June, with workers from other hospitals and volunteer firefighters from surrounding fire departments welcome to participate for free.

“Anyone who gets involved in this can,” Strauss said.

He said the Center for Domestic Preparedness wants to use some North Shore-LIJ courses in health care incident management for its programs.

“They’re looking to take some of our courses and roll them out nationally,” Strauss said.

A veteran of the special services unit of the New York Police Department who was among the second wave of first responders on the scene of the Twin Towers attacks on September 11, 2011, Strauss is familiar with the reflex actions needed in an emergency situation. He knows no practice scenario can match the real thing. But he said the nursing students played their parts in the contamination scenario to the hilt, emoting hysteria, calling out for loved ones and acting like they were in shock.

He said the mock responders on the scene played their roles effectively as well, simulating the requisite steps needed to decontaminate a radiation victim before they can be brought to a hospital facility.

Strauss said he was grateful that the North Shore-LIJ has made the financial commitment to support the emergency preparedness program. And he was pleased with the results of last week’s exercise.

“It went great. I couldn’t have been prouder of our people,” Strauss said.

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