Photo By Dan Grubb | Womack Army Medical Center military and civilian staff, tested their emergency...... read more read more
FORT BRAGG, NC- Severe weather events and disasters can happen at any time, Womack Army Medical Center military and civilian staff, tested their emergency response ability by conducting a mass casualty exercise (MASCAL) on March 19. This severe hurricane weather event included the team’s response to a simulating direct tornado hit discovery at one of the clinics during accountability procedures.
The MASCAL alert triggered an immediate response, with staff swiftly moving to their respective locations. The emergency department saw, an influx of patient simulated casualties and different scenarios to include a disgruntled family member.
“Our MASCAL exercise was a great opportunity to test our communications across the organization while also providing some hands-on training to staff to ensure our readiness to respond to larger scale emergencies on Fort Bragg,” said Hospital Commander, Col. Stephanie Mont. “Severe weather can impact us at any time, so the scenario involving a hurricane and tornado were relevant.”
The exercise evaluated the team’s response in critical areas, including communication, resources, assets, staff responsibilities, safety and security, patient, clinical and support activities along with recall and recovery. Recognizing communication as a key challenge in emergency situations, the team’s consistent training and retraining in the hospital incident command system effectively mitigated potential issues.
According to Womack’s Emergency Manager George White, “The goal of the exercise was to evaluate the preparedness of the emergency operation plan, identify planning and procedural deficiencies, test or validate recently changed procedures or plans, clarify roles and responsibilities and determine the participants efficiency.”
“Our team performed exceptionally well and I’m confident that Womack is ready to respond to any type of emergency we may face,” said Mont.
Throughout the year WAMC leaders and staff continuously perform different exercises and drills like this to ensure that they are ready whenever a disaster strikes.
| Date Taken: | 03.19.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 03.20.2025 16:41 |
| Story ID: | 493383 |
| Location: | FORT BRAGG, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 95 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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