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WAIMANALO, Hawaii - The citizens of Hawaii rely on the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (HIEMA) and the Hawaii National Guard (HING) to respond and help the state recover during times of disaster.
Despite this reliance, the people of Hawaii generally don’t play a role in the training and preparation of those tasked to respond to such disasters. That changed when Hawaii was selected to host the National Guard Bureau’s Vigilant Guard Exercise.
Vigilant Guard is a Northern Command and National Guard Bureau-sponsored exercise program that gave the State of Hawaii and the Hawaii National Guard the opportunity to evaluate and improve collaborative efforts regarding emergency preparation and response to domestic emergencies and catastrophic events.
The version of this exercise in Hawaii was called Vigilant Guard/Makani Pahili 2015, and was held from June 1-9 in conjunction with the Hawaii Emergency Management Agencies annual hurricane response exercise. The exercise took place on four of the Hawaiian islands, and included over 2,200 participants, including 700 from at least four other states and Guam.
In addition to the National Guard and emergency responders, the VGMP15 exercise also included 150 residents of Hawaii who endured long days and intense heat, acting as disaster victims, to add an important element of realism to the exercise.
To fulfill the need for these role players, the National Guard partnered with Dunhill Employment Professionals, a professional employment agency located on the island of Oahu. Dunhill Employment Professionals screened, interviewed, and hired all 138 roleplayers for the exercise, as well as 12 supervisors to manage the roleplayers.
Additionally, Dunhill coordinated the logistics required to provide role players to portions of the exercise conducted in Hilo on the island of Hawaii, and to various training locations on the island of Oahu.
Because of these efforts, Soldiers and emergency service personnel responding to various simulated catastrophic events faced living victims complete with makeup and other special effects used to simulate real-life injuries.
People of all ages and backgrounds were employed as role players to represent a realistic cross-section of Hawaii’s population. Roleplayers were hired based on experience, availability and their ability to endure the physical demands that accompanied long days outdoors in the heat.
Just as various as their backgrounds, were each roleplayer’s reason for taking part in the exercise.
For Amanda Wiegnad, who learned about the roleplaying opportunity through an employment website, taking part as a roleplayer represented a chance to earn some extra money while gaining additional acting experience.
“I have previous acting experience, so when I saw the posting, I applied, interviewed, and was hired,” said Wiegnad.
Barbara Craig, a resident of Kailua, explains why her motives went beyond pay and beyond playing the role of a victim of a disaster, she saw herself as a teacher.
“I’m not enduring the sun and the heat for the money,” said Craig. “My goal is to provide them [National Guard members] the experience of dealing with a real person.”
Craig hopes that if the guardsmen were ever called to respond to a disaster, they would remember to not become numb to the needs of the victims.
“I want them to treat the victims how they would want their own family treated,” said Craig.
Although their motives for participating may be different, both Craig and Wiegnad agree that the exercise would not have been as successful without the participation of civilian roleplayers.
“They [the guardsmen] couldn’t be fully prepared for the real world without this experience,” explained Wiegnad.
For Craig, the higher level of stress associated with dealing with a live, panicking victim during these simulated catastrophes is the closest thing to reality that the first responders will see.
“These Soldiers need to be ready to deal with the out of the ordinary,” said Craig. “That’s what we have tried to give them today.”
The Hawaii residents that helped facilitate VGMP15 hope that the members of the National Guard never have to respond to a collapsed structure, or a major chemical spill in Hawaii.
However, as the National Guard and HIEMA continue to prepare for such possibilities, these residents are confident that the role they played in the Vigilant Guard exercise has had a positive impact on Hawaii’s ability to meet the needs of its citizens in times of disaster.
| Date Taken: | 06.06.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 06.09.2015 23:04 |
| Story ID: | 166038 |
| Location: | WAIMANALO, HI, US |
| Web Views: | 129 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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