St. Vincent’s Hospital, Manhattan: Anthrax Drill
ER staffers run through terrorism drill
BY CURTIS L. TAYLOR
STAFF WRITER
July 30, 2005
The patients were sitting in a waiting room at St. Vincent’s Hospital Manhattan when they heard news reports of an anthrax attack. Panic engulfed the room as the patients, already upset over their own preexisting medical conditions, began to yell.
While that scenario did not play out in reality, it was one of 11 that emergency room staffers at the hospital were asked to work through Friday during a 90-minute advance training seminar aimed at teaching them how to care for patients and their own mental health during a bioterrorism attack.
In 2004, more than 675 emergency room workers from more than 50 acute care hospitals and health organizations in the city were trained by Disaster Psychiatry Outreach on the basics of mental health consequences of bioterrorism and trauma.
The second phase of that training, sponsored by the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, was held Friday at St. Vincent’s and is being taught at other acute care facilities throughout the city, officials said.
As the first responders in such an attack, emergency room staffers can find themselves feeling stress because of the event or heightened patient anxiety, said Dr. Grant H. Brenner, who led the training session.
Using the 2003 SARS crisis in Asia to illustrate key psychology problems that can arise during such an attack, Brenner said emergency first responders must identify psychosocial vulnerabilities in patients and themselves.
“The best way to be able to handle problems arising is to prepare in advance,” Brenner said, instructing staffers to be familiar with their hospital’s disaster plan. “You should also have your own personal preparedness plan in place.”
Other areas covered included differentiating between fears resulting from such an attack and mental illness to quickly administer care.
“We have learned from past experience that during a disaster, you get an influx of patients here that are not necessarily acutely ill, but they need a lot of emotional and psychology support to get through the stress,” said Yves Duroseau, a senior staffer who attended Friday’s seminar.
