PORT ANGELES — Ten Port Angeles High School medical career and medical terminology students played the victims in a medical emergency drill at the Lower Elwha Health Clinic last week.
The students played roles as “disaster-impacted patients” Thursday morning.
It was one of many drills throughout the state. The state Department of Health and the state Emergency Management Division designed and executed the full scale two-day exercise.
“It was fun and informative — and only a drill,” said instructor Lillian Easton.
The students pretended to be victims of a “suspected biological weapon” and were “treated” — with Skittles instead of actual medication — for their fake exposure, Easton said.
Representatives of several Clallam County agencies participated: Clallam County Emergency Management, the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, the Makah Nation, Clallam County Amateur Radio Emergency Services and Olympic Medical Center.
Only the Lower Elwha Health Clinic used people playing victims, said Jamye Wisecup, director of Clallam County emergency services.
Other locations ran theoretical scenarios, communicating with the other agencies as if they were treating patients.
The drill began Wednesday, with reports of patients with similar symptoms popping up across the state, and teams had to recognize the symptoms, identify the toxin that infected the victims and report it to the proper agencies, Wisecup said.
Second-day actions
On the second day, agencies began finding a way to distribute medications to widespread locations and dispense them to the faux patients, she said.
Wisecup said each mock patient at the clinic portrayed individual medical backgrounds, including allergies and sensitivities, so that medical personnel had to determine what medications should be used.
Students participating in the exercise were Chelsea Casady, Natalie Napiontek, Emelia Meyers, Caitlin Balser, Dentani Martin, Nicolas Layton, Natica Wood, Summer Moroz, Clarissa Preston and Ashlynn Amick.
“They were doing their part to prepare local health agencies and keep us all safe,” Easton said.
Lower Elwha Health Clinic Incident Management Team members who took part in the drill were Terri Demorest, Brandy Williams, Sher Carlson, Julie Burton, Summer Cooper, Leanna Ray-Colby, Linda Bush, Brenda Francis-Thomas and Darcey Hodges.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
