Hurricane Care - A Health Care Facility Tabletop Exercise

Exercise Overview

North Florida's Columbia, Dixie, Franklin, Gadsden, Hamilton, Jefferson, Lafayette, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Suwannee, Taylor and Wakulla County Emergency Management Departments undertook an effort to develop, facilitate and evaluate a disaster exercise entitled "Hurricane Care - A Health Care Facility Tabletop Exercise".

This exercise served as an opportunity for the following list of health care providers to assess and enhance their disaster planning, response and recovery capabilities.

Adult Day Care Centers	Adult Family Care Homes	Ambulatory Surgical Centers
Assisted Living Facilities	Birth Centers	Home Health Agencies
Hospices	Intermediate Care Facilities	Pediatric Extended Care Centers
Physician Offices	Residential Treatment Facilities	Short Term Residential Treatment Units

The Hurricane Care Tabletop Exercise was facilitated via an internet based application entitled ON-Line eXercise (ONX) System which allowed each facility to participate in the exercise from their own office.

Information on the ONX System can be found at ONXSystem.com.

Exercise Scenario

It is mid July and local citizens have been complacent in their hurricane preparedness activities because this year's hurricane season has not even seen its first Tropical Storm. Families are making their last minute plans for their summer vacations while local business owners are thinking that the hurricane season could be very inconsequential. However weather forecasters are predicting a major change in the atmosphere that could see a sharp increase in the number and severity of hurricanes within the next few weeks.

By late July local residents and business owners begin to follow the projected path of the season's first Tropical Storm. Soon the storm strengthens into Hurricane Care as it continues its forward movement. The National Hurricane Center continues to monitor the storm via satellite and Hurricane Hunter planes as it continues to intensify.

Hurricane Care has stayed true to the course that has been predicted by the National Hurricane Center and has grown into a mid-sized category two storm.

During the previous 24 hours the forward movement of Hurricane Care has increased and the National Hurricane Center has now posted a Hurricane Watch along the coastline indicating that the storm should be making landfall within the next 24 to 36 hours.

Exercise Conclusion

The Hurricane Care Tabletop Exercise was facilitated on the morning of June 9 2010.

This exercise is an example of the kind of exercises that comprise the nationwide Caduceus Shield Exercise Initiative. This initiative provides meaningful exercise opportunities for America's health system.