"Nothing like this has been done before," state Public Health Director Leonard Guercia Jr., who was on hand for the exercise, said Tuesday. "It was an excellent exercise-the first of its kind in the state," he said of the regional effort, in which many agencies and the general public participated.
"This was the first time that the concept of medical surge capacity was actually tested," said Laura Vasile, the town's health director, Tuesday. She noted that the crucial word was "surge," which means that the volume of emergency care was the driving issue of the exercise.
"It was the first test in our nation of a very serious flu outbreak situation," she said. "It was an opportunity to evaluate the kind of medical and nonmedical support that would be needed to aid a very large volume of people."
"Medical surge capacity is the capability to provide triage and then to provide appropriate medical care during a large scale public health and medical emergency like a pandemic flu and/or SARS outbreak," she had explained earlier in a prepared statement.
"Bethel was the first in the country to provide a drive-through triage as part of the exercise," she said this week, noting that there were other "firsts" as well.
"It was a very successful exercise," said Mr. Guercia, who was responsible for the state's provision of the Public Health Department's Ottilie Lundgren Memorial Mobile Field Hospital, which was set up on the ground of Bethel Health Care.
Medical and nonmedical volunteers, including children, participated in the exercise to test the regional community's ability to cope with a mass outbreak.
The event was organized by the Managed Emergency Mass Allocation Consortium, a community emergency planning council whose members include area health and human service providers.
Mrs. Vasile noted that part of the exercise was the evaluation of the services provided and that the results would be forthcoming in about 30 days.
State Rep. David Scribner, who represents a portion of Bethel for the 107th District and is a longtime member of the state Legislature's Public Health Committee, was on hand for the pandemic flu response exercise along with other local and state officials and personnel.
"The exercise provided an opportunity for the community to see its public health system at work and volunteers to offer feedback on the experience," he said this week in a press release.
"It allowed numerous first-time responders and health care personnel to practice their roles in a large-scale emergency. The level of organization, coordination, interest, response, participation, volunteerism, and professionalism involved should serve as a significant reassurance to the public throughout our region about the level of preparedness to face such a situation."
Mrs. Vasile said this week that "no one wants a crisis to happen" but that the exercise was "a good one" and that she looked forward to the formal evaluation."
"It gives us the opportunity to elevate our skills and services," she said.