Wounded school children “trapped” inside a school bus while toxic Anhydrous Ammonia “leaks” from a nearby tank. A parent’s worst nightmare? Not this time. The bus rollover –farm truck and anhydrous tank “collision” was the event staged in Dodgeville for October 11th’s Community Wide Disaster Drill.

Resources from throughout Iowa County and Southwest Wisconsin took this opportunity to fine tune emergency response skills. “While events have been staged in the past, the intensive coordination of resources and efforts to create realism made this disaster drill an extremely effective learning experience,” stated Maria Leary RN and member of the Upland Hills Health Disaster Drill Planning Committee.

SouthWest Tech nursing students were assigned injuries complete with blood and wound make-up applied by Jerry Crotsenberg Sr. the Southwest Wisconsin Public Health Preparedness and Response program Coordinator.

Dodgeville and Cobb firefighters and ambulances from Dodgeville and Mineral Point, were the first to arrive to the scene on Leffler Street. Steps were taken to efficiently stabilize the bus, assess “injuries” and transport “victims.” Once transported to Upland Hills Health Emergency Room, victims were met by a beefed up staff of Doctors and RNs—called in to handle the event. This was the first event where the HEICS (Hospital Emergency Incident Command System) was employed. John Mason Director of Cardiopulmonary Services added, “Upland Hills Health is key in creating funding and support for training, supplies and communication equipment for an integrated countywide incident command system. This is the first stage of a large commitment to develop the Incident Command System.”

“Practice is the first step to being prepared” confirmed Wendell Hamlin ER Staff RN and Mineral Point Rescue Squad EMT. He added, “The level of Doctor participation helped us follow the drill through to completion—going beyond the event scene and triage to the care-giving phase of an emergency situation. We had everything from frantic “parents” to med-flight orders to help simulate the chaos of a real event.”

“You can never be prepared enough,” observed Dodgeville Fire Chief Potsi (Jeff) Weber, “Just look at what the town of Chippewa falls is going through with their real bus tragedy.”

The following organizations were part of the Community Disaster Drill & Planning Committee:

• Upland Hills Health Staff- Maria Leary, Michelle Helin, John Mason, Wendell Hamlin, Carol Ann Kreul, Gail Reichling, Gary Persinger and Brandi Kamps
• Dodgeville Fire Department – Potsie (Jeff) Weber
• Dodgeville Ambulance – Brian Cushman, Carl York
• Mineral Point Rescue – Randy Prochaska
• Iowa County Public Health Department – June Meudt
• Iowa County Office Of Emergency Management – Kenny Palzkill,  Director
• Southwest Wisconsin Public Health Preparedness and Response Program Coordinator – Jerry Crotsenberg Sr.
• Dodgeville Police Department – Dave Kieffer, Dave Pope
• Iowa County Sheriff Department –John Pepper
• Cobb Fire Department--  Jim Reimenapp
• SouthWest Tech Nursing Instructors– Heidi Deininger-Kinney, Colleen Watters