Staff photo by Fritz Busch New Ulm Medical Center staff, Allina Ambulance and Lafayette Ambulance conduct a mass casualty drill exercise with New Ulm Middle and High School boys and girls soccer team members Tuesday.

NEW ULM — A cross section of New Ulm Medical Center staff, Allina and Lafayette Ambulance Services plus the New Ulm Middle and High School boys and girls soccer team members conducted a chemical decontamination mass casualty drill Tuesday.

Such drills began several years ago and happen annually. This year’s drill involved a school bus colliding with farm equipment with anhydrous ammonia.

Victims were removed from a school bus and transported by ambulance to the medical center, where they were wheeled to a decontamination tent with hospital staff wearing decontamination suits.

“We’re working to improve our response time to an emergency event with multiple victims,” said decontamination coordinator Maggie Dake, R.N. “Volunteers had multiple injuries and exposure to anhydrous ammonia. We plan to do this every year.”

Lafayette Area Ambulance Director Mark Dick said the training was valuable.

“I think it’s very good training for all area ambulance services and hospital staff,” Dick said. “It’s a situation that we could run into. We can’t get enough of this training. It’s great for all levels of emergency personnel.”

A number of hospital staff have attended training at the Federal Emergency Management Institute (EMI) in Anniston, Ala. The facility serves as the national focal point for the development and delivery of emergency management training to enhance the capabilities of State, local and tribal government officials; volunteer organizations; the FEMA disaster workforce; other Federal agencies; and the public and private sectors to minimize the impact of disasters and emergencies on the American public.

For more information, visit FEMA (Department of Homeland Security) training.fema.gov.

Fritz Busch can be emailed at fbusch@nujournal.com.