Newswise — A number of centers and institutes of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) will be among the participants in a collaborative multi-agency emergency preparedness conference and exercise here December 7.
Faculty and staff from USU's Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute (AFRRI), Center for Disaster and Humanitarian Assistance Medicine (CDHAM), the National Capital Area Patient Simulation Center, and the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress (CSTS) will provide on-site expertise in the treatment of chemical, nuclear, biological and radiological injuries and dealing with the stress associated with a disaster or other catastrophic incident.
Also participating is a "moulage" team from the university. These special effects makeup artists are experts at creating realistic injuries that are key to the education and training of health care personnel and first responders in combat or public health disasters.
The joint mass casualty exercise will be held on the grounds of the National Naval Medical Center to test and evaluate the interoperability of the Bethesda Hospitals Emergency Preparedness Partnership's personnel with local, state and federal agencies. Other participants include NNMC, Suburban Hospital, the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, and first responders from throughout the local area.
USU is the nation's federal school of medicine and graduate school of nursing. The students are active-duty uniformed officers in the Army, Navy, Air Force and U.S. Public Health Service who are being educated to deal with wartime casualties, national disasters, emerging infectious diseases and other public health emergencies.
For more information about USU, please visit the website at http://www.usuhs.mil.
RSS