County agencies to participate in mock plane crash

Feb. 02--A mock plane crash has been scheduled in Greenville for this coming week.

Multiple county agencies are expected to participate in a mass casualty drill Thursday near the site of L-3 Mission Integration in Greenville.

Hunt Regional Healthcare, the City of Greenville, Hunt County Homeland Security and L-3 are the sponsoring agencies for the drill, which will simulate the crash of a commercial aircraft.

Bret Freeman, trauma program manager and safety/emergency preparedness officer for Hunt Regional says the upcoming drill meets requirements set by the Joint Commission, the hospital's accrediting organization. The Joint Commission requires two full-scale disaster drills each year as part of its accrediting process. The exercise will also allow multiple first response agencies to work together to assess their readiness.

Area residents are being advised that the exercise will involve multiple police, fire and EMS vehicles and personnel traveling into and out of the mock disaster site.

Hospital, law enforcement and emergency management operations will continue normally during the simulation.

Volunteers can register to help during disasters and disaster drills by visiting www.texasdisastervolunteerregistry.org. After creating a username and password, users should register under Hunt County and then select Hunt Regional Medical Center as their organization. The site uses a mass notification system to alert volunteers during an emergency or emergency drill.

Those wanting additional information can call 903-408-1461.

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