Chicago hospital conducts preparedness drills ahead of DNC – NBC Chicago

With the Democratic National Convention taking place at the United Center in Chicago in August, one of the hospitals closest to the arena conducted an emergency drill on Thursday to ensure its staff is prepared for a mass casualty incident.

“When something like this happens, I think it’s important to prepare for any type of mass casualty event, whether it’s a shooting or a large-scale event like a riot police response. We need to protect our teams. We need to protect our patients, and RUSH plays an important role in protecting our community,” said Dr. Nick Cozzi, an emergency physician who led the exercise.

He triggered an alarm called “Code Triage,” and the lobby of the main hospital was converted into a triage area. Hospital beds and supply carts were rolled in to prepare for an influx of patients.

“The triage code is a signal to RUSH that there is a mass casualty incident with many injured people and that we have a large number of patients to care for,” said Cozzi.

During the exercise, nursing students were asked to pretend to be victims who had been injured in an explosion at the United Center.

“In 80% of mass casualty incidents, 8 out of 10 patients actually come not from ambulances but from private vehicles. We are preparing for patients not to be brought by ambulances but to be brought in cars or trucks and driven over the bridges of Highway 290. We have to be prepared for anything,” Cozzi said.

More than a dozen volunteer nursing students simulated injuries ranging from sprained ankles to more serious internal bleeding. RUSH staff assessed each injury and assigned it to a color-code system to determine who needed immediate treatment and who could wait to be examined.

To prepare for a chemical or gas attack, RUSH recently converted one of its ambulance bays into a hazardous materials decontamination unit. Curtains can be lowered at the push of a button, hoses are available at each station, and ceiling heaters can be turned on at the push of a button to keep victims warm after decontamination.

“If something were to happen, we turn the key and everything is set up in less than five minutes,” said Stephany Nunez Cruz, a clinical pharmacy specialist at RUSH.

“We have five lanes to do this in a safe and efficient manner,” Cozzi added.

After completing the code triage exercise, RUSH staff met for about 25 minutes to discuss the process and resolve any issues.