More than 50 people gathered Friday morning at Goochland High School to deal with the aftermath of a simulated emergency.

The exercise scenario was this:
It’s 9 a.m. in the morning after a tornado has struck Goochland and Powhatan County and the Emergency Operations Plan of the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) is being put into effect.

Not only has a tornado hit, but there’s been a pesticide spill at a local business and nearby residents have been asked to evacuate.

The Emergency Operations Center (EOC) has been opened at Goochland High School to accommodate people and their pets until conditions return to normal.

With that scenario in place, Exercise Manager Robin Hillman briefed the 36 shelter workers and observers and the 16 role players who would act out some of the possible scenarios shelter workers might have to deal with should a real disaster strike.

After the briefing they went to work.

Around 10 o’clock the role players started arriving for check in at the registration desk.

Role player Bill Dudley came in complaining of a headache and told the volunteers he had an allergy to peanuts. He was sent to the clinic area.

“We took his blood pressure, pulse and got his vitals,” said Susan Scott. He seemed to be in pretty good shape, so they gave him a Benadryl.

Later on a pregnant lady arrived and went into labor, according to the scenario.

By this time, normal communications had been restored, so that the backup network provided by amateur radio operators at the high school and the Sheriff’s Office was not needed to summon EMS personnel.

Other role players were slated to portray an Alzheimer’s patient, a homeless person, a teenager with asthma who had lost his inhaler and a tuberculosis patient, among others.

Over in the pet shelter, which was a new addition to the exercise this year, volunteers were taping plastic to the walls of a room that could be used as a quarantine area for sick pets, before role playing citizens with their pets began arriving.

Volunteers checked in the pets and their owners and RN Terri Walden gave each animal a brief exam to determine if it was healthy.

Dogs and cats were separated. Birds would be taken to a nearby bathroom, said Pet Coordinator Cynthia Stansbury, who wrote the pet shelter plan.

“No reptiles allowed,” said Stansbury. Other “pocket pets” would need for their owners to bring their own cages.

Animal scenarios called for a dog with epilepsy and an owner who refuses to leave their pet and go the shelter area.

Plans called for the exercise to last until noon, when the role players would depart and the volunteers would debrief.

Monday Hilman said she had about 35 written evaluations of the exercise to go over.

Hilman, an EMT at Co. 5 on Fairgrounds Road, said she has been involved in emergency planning for the county since 1999. She explained that federal law requires each community have an LEPC in place, originally mandated to deal with hazardous materials incidents.

But in 2000, Goochland’s committee decided to expand its role to come up with a plan to deal with other emergencies.

“We felt like there was a need in the county,” said Hillman, who also works in Emergency Planning and Disaster Recovery in her day job for marketing company Affinion Group.

Hillman said LEPC would evaluate the exercise, which is done every other year, and submit a report to the board of supervisors in 30 to 45 days.

Hillman called the exercise a success but said the need for some changes was already clear.

More signage, for instance, so that people don’t get lost after signing in and going from place to place.

“The high school is a large area and the people would be under stress,” she noted.

Another change would be the addition of an external antenna for the radio operators, to improve reception.

Board of Supervisors chairman William Quarles acted as one of the observers. Quarles, recently retired after 32 years with at North Anna with Dominion Power, pointed out that he was no stranger to emergency drills and praised the efforts of the volunteers last Friday.

“From a Goochland standpoint it was an excellent exercise,” said Quarles.

Quarles did note one needed change. That is for radio operators to always make a “this is a drill” announcement when transmitting during practice exercises, since any listener with the proper equipment could pick up the transmissions and without such an announcement might think a real emergency existed.

But overall he was pleased with the event.

“We found out from Katrina that sometimes the elderly and animals sometimes get left behind,” he said. “It’s better to practice and not need it, than not to have it,” said Quarles of the emergency planning.

Hillman said that Goochland residents interested in helping the county prepare for an emergency caring for both people and their pets can call Fire Administration at 804 556-5304 for more information.