Emergency prepardness drill at Gainesville College

OAKWOOD - Don't be alarmed if you see a number of emergency vehicles around Gainesville College today - it's all part of a drill.

Several emergency services agencies are participating in a training exhibition of decontamination equipment and procedures at the college.

They include area hospitals, EMTs, fire departments, and the District 2 Public Health Office. The training is being conducted by the Medical College of Georgia and the event is sponsored by the Health Resources and Services Administration.

Fifty hospital workers from around North Georgia learned how to protect themselves and their facilities when contaminated patients arrive.

Senior Medical Instructor Rod Stegall said the workers are trained to handle effected patients to free up doctors and nurses to do treatment.

"We give training on mass decontamination at the hospital site," Stegall said.

"This isn't out at the incident site, it happens right outside the hospital before they go into the emergency room."

The training is part of a Department of Homeland Security initiative to prepare communities and ready first responders for bioterrorism disasters.