News and views for the UB community
Published July 23, 2018 This content is archived.
UB will hold a full-scale emergency training exercise from 7 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Aug. 1 in and around Hadley Village on the North Campus.
The UB Emergency Management department, in collaboration with local, state and federal emergency responders, will conduct a full-scale exercise designed to ensure coordinated, timely and effective response and recovery in the event of an “active shooter” emergency.
The crisis simulation will focus on response from University Police; Environment, Health and Safety; Student Life; University Communications; School of Nursing; School of Public Health and Health Professions; and the Behling Simulation Center of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
Jay Roorbach, senior emergency planning coordinator for the Emergency Management, says the exercise is designed to evaluate the effectiveness of on-scene response and multi-agency coordination.
“One of the most important things I have learned personally and professionally,” Roorbach says, “is how important it is to involve all our emergency service partners in an exercise like this.
“There is a focus on UB and community agencies’ response to the emergency scenario, as well as command-level interaction with campus departments and external agencies.
“A key goal of the exercise is increasing the ability of UB departments and community agencies — police, fire and emergency services — to work cooperatively and in close coordination with each other,” he says. “We all gain a better understanding that will help us work together in the future.”
Roorbach says the School of Nursing and School of Public Health and Health Professions, together with Environment, Health and Safety, are providing exercise controllers and overseeing the safety of the participants. Student Life will activate its emergency response teams, and Campus Living will allow use of one of its facilities during the exercise.
“It is critically important for us to know what the emergency responders and firefighters expect out of us, and that we have a good idea of what they are going to be able to do as well,” says Joshua B. Sticht, deputy chief of University Police, who is also serving as one of three co-directors of the exercise.
“It is important to take an all-hazards view toward being prepared and having a planned, coordinated response. A crisis affecting the entire campus can take many forms,” Sticht notes.
University Communications will simulate its crisis communications plan and procedures, which, during an actual incident, are focused on providing the university community and members of the public with timely and accurate information about on-campus emergencies.
“During an incident, University Communications works very closely with emergency responders to disseminate health and safety messages via official university channels,” says John DellaContrada, associate vice president of media relations and stakeholder communications. “The exercise provides an opportunity to practice our multiple communication roles, coordinate emergency messaging and simulate our response to intense interest from social and news media.”
During the exercise and two days prior to it, University Communications also will send and post public messages informing the university community that an emergency exercise is taking place. Emergency vehicles and actors with simulated injuries will be visible on the North Campus during the exercise.
Outside agencies participating in the exercise include Buffalo Fire Department; Erie County Emergency Services; Amherst Police; Town of Amherst Emergency Services; Getzville Fire Department; Erie County Medical Center; Erie County Department of Health; Kaleida Health, including DeGraff Memorial Hospital, Buffalo General Medical Center, Oshei Children’s Hospital of Buffalo and Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital; New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services; New York State Department of Health; Federal Bureau of Investigation; American Medical Response; and Twin City Ambulance.
The Behling Simulation Center will participate in the exercise by providing an opportunity for treatment of traumatic injuries in a realistic, simulated environment.
“Multiple high-fidelity training simulators — mannequins capable of simulating scenarios ranging from delivering babies to resuscitating injured patients — will be programmed to simulate the physiological conditions caused by gunshot wounds,” says Tom Cotter, lead simulation tech specialist and facilities operations manager of the Behling Simulation Center.
Cotter says the simulators will be stationed in the Emergency Care Center of Oishei Children’s Hospital.
“By providing multiple simulators effecting real-life gunshot-related trauma conditions, the simulation center will create learning experiences during the exercise that encourage positive communication and interaction, problem-solving, decision-making and crisis management in a non-threatening environment,” he says.
During the exercise, access to the Cooke A, B and C faculty and staff parking lots on the North Campus will be temporarily unavailable. Access to Hadley Road between Rensch and Augspurger roads also will be unavailable during the exercise.
Because of the sensitive nature of the activities, media presence will not be permitted during the exercise. Media interviews with co-directors of the exercise will be made available prior to the start of the activities.
The exercise is closed to the campus community and the general public.