Exercises and Drills

The AHC Emergency Response Team participated in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Medical Response System (MMRS) web-based tabletop exercise, Operation Snowball II, in February 2004.  The scenario included an intentional release of Yersinia pestis during a large public event on campus. During the exercise, the University of Minnesota Medical Reserve Corps was (virtually) activated for mass clinic support at the request of Hennepin County and for general public hotline support at the request of the Minnesota Department of Health. For the mass clinic portion of this exercise, the University provided the following support as requested by Hennepin County:

• Secured and prepared the Coffman Great Hall for a 9 .pm. - midnight clinic on day 1 of clinic operations and a 7 a.m. – 1 p.m. clinic on day 2.

• Provided security for the clinic through U of M Police Department.

• Received and secured the MMRS drug cache delivered to Coffman Union by the MDH.

• Provided 15 “clinicians” and 20-30 “non-clinicians” to staff the evening clinic.   Total staffing during the exercise included 50 “clinicians” and 100 “non-clinicians” for each clinic.

This exercise clearly demonstrated the important role that U of M health professionals will play in a large-scale public health emergency, and more importantly, the need for an organized, pre-planned infrastructure for the deployment of those resources.  

The AHC Emergency Response Team also hosted a bioterrorism exercise on June 9, 2004.  This exercise, designed by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), followed the progression of a bio-terrorism event from an initial threatening letter through key decision points to the natural end of the outbreak. Exercise participants included the U of M, St. Paul-Ramsey Department of Health, Minnesota Department of Health, Minnesota Board of Animal Health, and the FBI. A complete story on the exercise is available on the CIDRAP website.