The Lower Hudson Valley Health Emergency Preparedness Coalition (HEPC) will be conducting its third Coalition Surge Test (CST) exercise in late February/early March 2020.
This exercise is for agencies in Westchester, Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Ulster and Sullivan counties.
It is a Table Top Exercise (TTX) with an Interoperable Communication (IOC) Functional Exercise (FE) added to it. The exercise will be at least three hours long to provide adequate time for participants to complete all objectives.
CST tests a coalition’s ability to work in a coordinated way to find appropriate destinations for patients using a simulated evacuation of at least 20 percent of a coalition’s staffed acute-care bed capacity.
All participants will be provided with a two-week window, but not an exact date for the exercise.
An Integrated Health Alerting Network System (IHANS) notification through the Health Commerce System (HCS) will be sent out one hour prior to the start of the exercise. Agencies which have been pre- identified to play an evacuating location will receive an IHANS message two hours in advance.
This exercise will meet one of the exercise requirements (community based) mandated by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
The exercise will be followed by a hot-wash at the 3rd Quarter Lower Hudson Valley sub-region HEPC meeting on March 11, 2020.
If you are interested in participating in the exercise, please register no later than October 11, 2019 by sending the following information to Gyongyi.McQueston@health.ny.gov:
- Agency/organization name
- Name, title, e-mail and cell phone number (or another phone number where you can be reached during the exercise) of Point of Contact (POC).
- Name(s) and contact information for person(s) who will evaluate the exercise at your agency.
HEPCs are regional coalitions of health care providers, local and state emergency managers and local public health preparedness officials who work together to develop and coordinate emergency preparedness activities.
If you have any questions, contact Gyongyi McQueston of the Office of Health Emergency Preparedness at (914) 654-4995; (518) 491-2982 (cell); or gyongyi.mcqueston@health.ny.gov.
