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34 JULY 2016 | EMSWORLD.com EMS, discussed lessons learned from both exercises in his presentation, "Taking a New Defensive Striving Course in the Crescent City: Enhanced Preparation for Chemical Disasters N'Awlins Style," at the Gathering of Eagles. For the chemical spill exercises, dubbed Crescent Shield, more than 150 participants from all levels of government converged at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans East to approach issues that would arise in the aftermath of a catastrophic chemical incident. Collaborators honed in on critical decisions post-incident that need to be made in the first half-hour. "We not only looked at the overall landscape of critical decisions; we also looked at the ones that, if discerned, would lead to a cascade of additional answers for detections and recognition," says Jani. Exercises focused on response via oper- ations, logistics and command control; protective action messaging and public information; tactical communications and interoperability; and medical and public health surge capacity. "We had many moving parts to consider," says Elder. "We learned we needed a better picture of the total traffic coming through New Orleans. Port traffic is fairly easy to count, but rail and interstate traffic is more difficult to calculate. For example, the Public Belt (Railroad) owns and operates nearly 100 miles of track (from Lake Pontchartrain to the Mississippi River waterfront). Pri- vate carriers may use the Belt's track and pay for the service or go around it by using the 'back belt,' owned by Norfolk Southern. The traffic discussion led to a hazardous- commodities f low study for port and rail that's in the works now." Outcomes The exercises yielded outcomes such as critical decision support architecture and a concept of operations to complement city and regional crisis management frame- works. More specifically, these tools were created: a robust concept of operations (CONOPS) to complement the city's haz- ardous-materials release management plan; decision matrices for use by first respond- ers; EMS protocols and paramedic hazmat training. Also as a result of the project, New Orleans EMS now carries the Cyanokit for cyanide poisoning, and calcium gluconate (for hydrofluoric acid burns, among other uses) is on order, says Elder. "We looked at both exercises as the eyes and ears for our health systems," says Elder. "Our focus should be, as we're get- ting people decontaminated in an event, to actually treat patients by having the medical knowledge to make the right decisions in the field. As a medical director, I think the biggest thing that keeps me up at night is making sure we have medics who have the training and knowledge and wherewithal to know where to go to get more informa- tion when they have to during an event." —Pepper Jeter, Associate Editor THE FIRST CHOICE OF FIRST RESPONDERS TEXTBOOKS INCLUDED Gainful employment information available at ColumbiaSouthern.edu/Disclosure. Learn more about our online EMS degrees, workshops, and CEUs. ColumbiaSouthern.edu/EMSworld or call 877.258.7153 With courses encompassing legal, political and regulatory frameworks in EMS administration, earning an online degree in emergency medical services administration with Columbia Southern University will provide you with the professional development needed for success. Degrees ofered include: • B.S. Emergency Medical Services Administration • B.S. Health Care Administration For More Information Circle 28 on Reader Service Card