Life St Georges Hospital and Emergency Services to hold Evacuation Exercise
www.MyPE.co.za: Local
hospital, Life St Georges, in Park Drive, will be the scene of a
dramatic evacuation exercise on Monday, 1st February, when hospital
staff and emergency services personnel will evacuate fifty ‘patients’
from the roof of the new extensions.
Hospital manager, Beau Barfknecht, said “We have just finished our
major renovations and we need to ensure that we are ready for any
emergency on our premises. If a fire broke out on the lower floor of
our new wing, we would need to evacuate patients from the roof”.
The Vodacom East Cape Emergency Services have the World Cup in their
sights and the FIFA Fan Park will be situated right next door at St
George’s Cricket Ground, so the readiness of all emergency role-players
in a real life situation needs to be tested – the exercise on Monday
will test procedures and the ability of all local emergency
services”
All role-players associated with the Vodacom East Cape Emergency
Services Co-ordinating Committee (VECESCC) will take part in the
exercise, from 9.30am to 11.00am. Traffic will be diverted in Park
Drive, but the hospital will continue to operate as normal during the
exercise.
“Staff and patients in the hospital, as well as our neighbours, will be
informed of the exercise, as we do not want anyone to think that lives
are in danger. It is an exercise and the safety of all the participants
is paramount”, said Hospital Trauma Manager, Gill Jones. “We will
simulate various scenarios with our volunteer “patients”, who will be
evacuated off the roof by helicopters, Fire Department hoists and
ladders, and Mountain Club members using abseiling techniques”.
“A de-brief session will be held after the exercise to evaluate all the
standard procedures and techniques used in the evacuation”, said Supt
Theo Meyer, chairman of the VECESCC.
“The local VECESCC meets every month to ensure that all incidents have
been handled correctly and any issues between various emergency service
divisions are discussed and resolved”, said Meyer, who is a senior SAPS
helicopter pilot. “An exercise such as the Life St Georges evacuation
is imperative to ensure that everyone is ready for any eventuality”.
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