Hundreds of staff recently took part in a two-day Large Scale Incident response training drill at California Correctional Institution.
The Dec. 30-Nov. 1 training involved:
- Office of Correctional Safety, Emergency Operations Unit (EOU)
- Emergency Planning and Management Unit (EPMU)
- California Correctional Health Care Services
- and Emergency Medical Response Program (EMRP).
Collaborative effort for Large Scale Incident training
The course was a collaboration with Mental Health Trainers, Custody Alarm Response Controllers, and Medical Trainers. All three disciplines gathered to work toward a common goal: planning and conducting LSI training for their own institution.
On day one, participants received training from Custody, Nursing, Mental Health and Emergency Services subject matter experts in LSI drill planning. This training was a combination of lecture and hands on application. As the participants learned the importance of communication amongst the trainers and participants, they were also taught how to perform various other collaborative drills. All of the exercises focused on all three disciplines working together to achieve a successful LSI.
On day two of the course, participants were included in a full scale LSI drill at CCI. They were assigned as Safety Officers, role players and medical evaluators.
The drill included allied agencies:
- CAL Star Air Ambulance
- Tehachapi Police Department
- Kern County Fire Department.
Of the 30 participating CDCR institutions, the training included over 150 staff from Custody, Nursing and Mental Health. In addition, the full scale LSI drill included over 200 CCI staff.
The Nursing and Custody training staff at CCI worked together with guidance from the EMRP and EOU to create an LSI scenario, forcing staff out of their comfort zone, producing an excellent training environment.
Feedback from training
“Planning this drill brought the Medical staff and Custody staff together to focus on one goal of a collaborative training,” said CCI In-Service Training Assistant Manager Francis Andreotti. “When these incidents happen in real life, we don’t have the luxury of mistakes. This drill allowed our staff to make mistakes in a positive learning environment.”
CCI Nurse Instructor Erin Christensen said, “This was a great time. Custody and Nursing worked together and had a great opportunity to build camaraderie between the disciplines. We have already begun to plan our next drill.”
The EOU and EMRP have been planning this course for most for 2022.
“This drill has been a dream of mine for a while, working with Allen Francis (EMRP) made all of this possible,” said EOU Tactical Response Lieutenant Brian Sharp. “Allen was our partner every step of the way and I look forward to building this program with him and the EMRP.”
OCS Special Agent in Charge James Bottge was thankful for the partnership with the EMRP and CCI Administration.
“This course is all about collaboration, EOU collaborating with EMRP, CCI Custody collaborating with Nursing and Mental Health. But none of this is possible without the commitment from Warden Cates and his staff. CCI Warden Cates welcomed us with open arms and ensured the drill was successful,” said Bottge.