Earthquake drill prepared Mat-Su Regional Medical Center

Approximately 117 patients reported injuries at the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center on Friday, Nov. 30 according to Alan Craft, the Director of Marketing and Public Relations.

These injuries were a direct result of an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 that shook the Mat-Su Valley at 8:29 a.m. that day. One hundred injuries were reported within the first nine hours following the initial event. Another 17 were reported within the next seven hours, of the 117 injuries, two were considered serious. These numbers do not include the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center’s urgent care facilities in Palmer and Settlers Bay.

The hospital was full operational immediately following the earthquake. The hospital was in a ‘code black’ which then launched an Emergency Operational Center and an Incidental Command Center. Most medical staff were on hand or on call including all available general surgeons and orthopedic surgeons.

Structural Engineers will be inspecting the facility this week. Immediately following and throughout the weekend the hospital filed a 251 Hospital Incident Command System reports which is a facility systems status report for the mechanical system. After the initial report another was filed that afternoon, two on Saturday and one on Sunday.

On Nov. 7 Mat-Su Regional had conducted a full-scale disaster preparedness drill that included a scenario of an earthquake.

“We train for emergencies throughout the year. In fact, just over three weeks ago, we conducted a full-scale disaster drill using a major earthquake for the disaster scenario. We called it ‘The Big Shakedown.’ The parallels are amazingly similar to the events of this past Friday. Our hospital staff responded to the earthquake like a precision drill team. The compassion, dedication and phenomenal teamwork we witnessed in the midst of this devastating earthquake was inspiring. We could not be more proud of how our staff and medical providers served our community. The time and energy invested in our emergency management training has proven its worth.” Craft stated.

Contact Dennis Anderson at dennis.anderson@frontiersman.com.