June Newsletter - 2004
Mock Terror Event
Training Exercise Completed
The Center is proud to have been represented by Center
members in the CARE ’04 exercises. As previously discussed in the
Center’s March Newsletter, CARE ’04 was a four-state exercise
designed to train and test bioterrorism response in the four states
of Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri.
Center Associate Director Bruce Clements, a member of the Missouri-1 Disaster Medical Assistance Team (MO-1 DMAT,) and Center member Suzy Walker, R.N., a member of the Missouri Air National Guard, joined over 500 government and civilian responders in the full-scale, three-day exercise. The CARE ’04 exercises were highly publicized in the media by both regional and national news outlets.
Participants responded to a variety of simulated attacks with hazardous materials, a vehicle crash, a building explosion and collapse (with a suspected chemical agent), mass victim rescue/evacuation, an aircraft explosion, and a dirty bomb detonation.Civilian aircraft search and rescue capabilities were tested, as well as fire suppression, and urban search and rescue.
One of only 28 Federal Emergency Management Agency urban search & rescue task forces in the United States, Missouri Task Force 1 locates and rescues people trapped in collapsed buildings. Elements of the Task Force were deployed to the World Trade Center in New York City in September 2001, the 2003 Shuttle COLUMBIA crash in Texas, and the Hurricane Isabel strike in September 2003.Have a question or comment? Email bioterr@slu.edu