September 8, 2008

Battered and bloody, the earthquake survivors are collected on the front steps. First responders slowly begin to realize that some victims had been exposed to chlorine. Meanwhile, there’s the ever-present fear of more tremors, which could knock out electrical power and send all communication systems offline.
Yes, as disasters go, Fountainhead’s recent event was a big success.

Fountainhead joined with South College students, staff and faculty as well as representatives from Sprint for a disaster drill that tested their combined skills, experience and communications equipment. In the drill scenerio, an earthquake caused a train car to derail, and chlorine was spilled.

Tennessee Environmental Management Agency recommended an earthquake-based drill this year, because the San Madrid fault line has become "a major disaster concern in Tennessee," said Sharon Stratton, department head for medical programs at Fountainhead.

"Trains often derail during earthquakes," Stratton said. "That actually happened several years ago in Farragut, so we thought it would be appropriate. ... We also needed a biohazard, so I included chlorine. We were first thinking Anthrax, but we wanted it to be more realistic."

The Department of Homeland Security also required the drill incorporate a terrorist plot, so it included an elderly woman complaining of chest pain, with a bomb strapped to her chest under her clothing.

"We wanted to see if the medical staff would recognize the threat," Stratton said.

"Patients" came into a "triage" area at Fountainhead with detailed cards about their symptoms. South College physician assistant students diagnosed and triaged the disaster victims, while about Fountainhead medical information management students documented the results. Fountainhead had a simulated decontamination shower in the foyer, and some faculty, students and staff seriously got into their role-playing as patients.

Meanwhile, "our IT and ET students worked closely with Sprint to establish a new line of disaster communications, including Internet using WIFI and new Sprint trial phones for FEMA," Stratton said. "Our drill enabled Sprint to make important changes in their disaster plan."

Built-in chaos helped make the drill good practice for a real-life crisis, she said: "You're going to find yourselves standing around waiting to treat victims, and then blink and find yourself overwhelmed with them."

The college plans to have annual drills, increasing in size each year and drawing on the cooperaton of the Department of Homeland Security, TEMA and local agencies.

"We plan to have unique scenarios that truly represent the community at large," Stratton said. "Our drill created an area of Knoxville with loss of emergency services and inaccessible roads, thus creating a need for a MASH-style unit manned by physician assistants and physicians."

By including disaster preparedness in the medical programs of Fountainhead and South, the colleges prepare their students to work with local and national agencies, to help them plan for this community's particular needs in the event of a disaster.

Besides supplying medical information management students, Stratton added, "we are using the full resources Fountainhead offers in Technology to enhance and improve communications during disasters," as well as to help the infrastructure recover after a disaster.

About Fountainhead College of Technology's (FCT) Center for Information Assurance & Cybersecurity Training (IACT)

Fountainhead College of Technology, formerly Tennessee Institute of Electronics, was founded in 1947 and is committed to using it resources to significantly contribute to efforts to secure the nation's critical infrastructure. In 1999 the college began offering an associate's degree in Information Technology with curriculum developed to include information security training. In 2002 the college began development of a baccalaureate degree in Network Security and Forensics; and in 2003 Fountainhead College of Technology became the first college in the southeast to offer a computer security focused baccalaureate degree. The mission of the IACT center is to develop and maintain a strong information assurance curriculum that adheres to national standards, and to also address the cybersecurity needs of the community by offering training and support for Fountainhead College of Technology students, staff, and faculty; local law enforcement; government agencies; and information technology professionals.

For more information, please visit the official IACT website at: http://www.iawire.org, or contact Casey Rackley, Program Coordinator at casey.rackley [at] fountainheadcollege [dot] edu .