Mobile Field Hospital Training At Warsaw Municipal Airport
WARSAW — From 1-3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27, at the Warsaw Municipal Airport, the Indiana Guard Reserve and the Indiana State Department of Health will conduct an emergency medical training exercise.
The purpose of the exercise is to familiarize emergency responders with using mobile field hospitals efficiently. The IGR received some training with this equipment during annual training, however, the IGR and the ISDH want to become agencies who are well versed in using mobile field hospital so they are prepared to natural disasters.
This equipment will allow the IGR and the ISDH to set up a mobile hospital that could be a stand-in if a natural disaster were to occur that would render a community medical facilities unusable. This mobile hospital can be used anywhere in Indiana.
Roughly several dozen people will participate in this training exercise. The mobile hospital and supplies will come completely out of a truck. This mobile field hospital is the only one in the state. Currently, this equipment has not been used in a natural disaster.
The training will have a strong focus on if an earthquake or a tornado were to occur, as these could be debilitating natural disasters, Terry Heifetz, public affairs officer for the Indiana Guard Reserve explains.
The airport in Warsaw Municipal Airport is a midway point for two brigades to meet for their joint operations. This location provides room for an exercise and overnight housing from the Armory. The airport will be an ideal location for field hospitals because of the possibility of delivering/extracting critical patients away from a disaster site via helicopter, Heifetz explains.
Three units of the Indiana Guard Reserve will be part of the training. The First Brigade in Fort Wayne, Second Brigade in Lafayette and the medical command in Indianapolis will be participating in this field training exercise.
The mobile hospital will set up early Saturday morning. The mobile hospital will be open from 1-3 p.m. for local government officials, first responders, media and the general public. Entry to the site may be made at the entrance off Airport Road just south of CR 350E.