Region Exercises Chemical Emergency Surge Plan

On October 17, 2023 and October 27, 2023 NVERS hosted offerings of the Regional Chemical Emergency Surge Tabletop Exercise (TTX). The exercises, held in the City of Charlottesville and Fairfax County, brought together participants representing hospitals, public health, emergency medical services (EMS), hazardous materials (HAZMAT), and law enforcement. Over sixty (60) players worked through a chlorine gas release and mass casualty scenario that drove examination of regional hospital surge, public messaging, patient distribution, resource requests, and decontamination capabilities. The lessons learned from the exercise will inform revisions of the Regional Healthcare Emergency Operations Plan (RHEOP) Chemical Emergency Surge Annex, the healthcare coalition's plan for response and coordination to chemical incidents. NVERS thanks both the Inova Health System and UVA Health for serving as hosts for the exercises.