By Zach Fuentes
Copyright abc7news
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) — As major sporting events like the World Cup and Super Bowl are headed to the Bay Area, Santa Clara County is stepping up emergency preparedness.
Emergency responders suited up in San Jose to practice responding to worst-case scenarios.
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Santa Clara Valley Health Care staff donned the protective gear and set up decontamination tents and practice triage zones at O’Connor Hospital.
Mannequins stood in for injured patients.
All of it is happening so that the first responders can practice their life-saving work in the context of a mass casualty incident and a decontamination event.
“We are practicing a scenario where a bomb had just detonated at Levi’s Stadium, and so we’re preparing to receive some injured patients that are coming here from that explosion. This is just a practice event, not a real thing, but our team is preparing to receive some of those injured patients,” said Sheila Tuna, the service line director of the disaster preparedness unit for Santa Clara Valley Healthcare.
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The scenario also says that there is a hazardous substance that was released.
“We’re expecting the patient, the injured patients, to be coming covered with some kind of a substance. So they will be washing and decontaminating the patients before they enter into the hospital for treatment,” she said.
Tuna said these drills happen all year, but take on special urgency as the Bay Area gets ready for crowds from around the globe.
“It’s especially important during this time, because we have major events coming in the upcoming year. So we are doing a lot of targeted scenario-based training for our hospital emergency response team,” she said.
For the professionals, the training is a chance to get hands-on with gear and practice lifesaving response.
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“We’re really trying to be prepared just in case something happens,” said Mariann Vaught, a Registered Nurse “We have FIFA, the World Cup coming up, and that’s very close to our hospital. We also have the Super Bowl next year, so we’re trying to get a team together to make sure that we’re prepared for anything.”
The training also strengthens collaboration across four Santa Clara County hospitals, building confidence for staff who may one day be called to respond.
“We’re ready. We thrive in chaos. I’m an ER nurse, so I want to be boots on the ground for these types of situations,” Vaught said. “And that’s everybody here.”
County officials said Thursday was not the last drill. More trainings are already scheduled through the end of this year and into 2026.
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