PHOTOS & VIDEO: Lakewood officials took part a full-scale emergency exercise at the Ocean Medical Center yesterday. The exercise scenario presented a major hurricane and power outage in Brick Township, leading the hospital to shelter-in-place and eventually evacuate by land and air.
The purpose of the “Operation Surf’s Up” drill is to examine interactions between local and State resources during a disaster, with focus on coordination and collaboration of effectively evacuating patients from Ocean Medical Center. It also tested the local resources’ ability to request additional resources if such an event should occur.
Drills are common throughout the year, but this drill was one of the largest ever conducted. The care and treatment of real patients at the medical center and those in the emergency department continued as usual, without interruption of service while the drill took place.
Ocean Medical Center has partnered with the Brick Township Police Department and the Brick Township Office of Emergency Management to conduct the drill. Public service agencies throughout the community and state also volunteered their time to participate in the exercise, which involved individuals acting as patients. Exercises of this nature help first responders, medical professionals, and administrators better prepare for a true community emergency.
“This exercise is about identifying best practices and guidelines for an organized, systematic, and safe response to a situation that may require a partial or full evacuation of a hospital,” said Ocean Medical Center President, Dean Q. Lin, MHA, MBA, FACHE. “We expect to learn many valuable lessons and identify best practices that can then be shared with other regional hospitals.”
Participation and planning of the of the drill involved multiple additional agencies including: Brick Township Police EMS, Brick Township Bureau of Fire Safety, Breton Woods Fire Company, Herbertsville Fire Company, Laurelton Fire Company, Pioneer Hose Fire Company, Lakewood EMS, Lakewood Township Emergency Management, New Jersey EMS Task Force, Ocean County EMS Coordinator and the Ocean County Health Department. With the cooperation of the New Jersey and Ocean County Offices of Emergency Management numerous EMS squads from throughout the state also participated in the drill. Several Askonim involved with the Hospital were also present at the drill.
“Drills and exercises sharpen our skills at the all levels,” said Brick Township Police Chief Nils R. Bergquist. “The lessons learned and the practice makes the department better prepared to handle all hazards. The department has long enjoyed a great relationship with the staff of Ocean Medical Center. The work that has gone into this drill has reinforced that relationship which results in an enhanced quality of service for all in our community.”
“This drill is another example of the high level of commitment the Brick Township Police Department and the Ocean Medical Center have to protecting our community,” said Mayor Stephen Acropolis. “They are constantly preparing for all types of emergency situations and citizens should take comfort knowing that they do.” TLS.
How come there was no Lakewood Fire Dept members there? Shouldn’t they have been invited also?
How come lakewood police was not there? How lakewood hatzola was not there? How come lakewood bikur cholim was not there? How come lakewood fire dept was not there? How come lakewood chaveirim was not there?
In case of chas vsholom a real one all the above orgs would be called on so why wernt they by the drill????
Maybe you should ask each of those organizations why they were not there. The drill wasn’t a big secret. they all knew it was going on.
Lakewood police & fire were invited but told that there were sufficient coverage already so they chose not to come. Hatzolah was not invited. Lakewood EMS & Lakewood First Aid were enough. They took 1 squad per township.
How come LCSW wasn’t there?
Why would anybody from Lakewood want to go except EMS, we have our own town to worry about. When they do a drill in Lakewood we will be running it and attending. So everyone chill……
How come lakewood doesn’t have drills like this. They can apply for grants to fund the drill so the employees cab get paid.
There is a drill being planed for Lakewood. There is a small chance it will include Hatzolah as well. However, organizations like chaveirim, lcsw will not be included. This is not meant in a bad way. Remember, this is done by the NJ state health & senior services not by the Lakewood township.
To mr it was by brick; the reason to particapate in the drill even in brick is so when god forbid it happens in lakewood we will prepared it is the sane type of response no matter where it is!
So once again, where was Lakewood hatzola, PD, chaveirim, Lcsw, Misaskim, Shomrim, Fire dept, Bikur cholim???
I think we should make a drill like this and get all proper agencies involved!
To brick township vs lakewood township: I think you have very good intentions. If you want to get together with the township & plan such an event it would be great & can be done on a “township” level. But as long as it’s being done on a “state” level we need to go along with them.
I think Lakewood & Brick have a great relationship. There was enough going on there with all the Township fire depts that you dont need to strip mine a town to come stand by. If the disaster was real..you would see a great response not only from the towns there but all surrounding towns..it was a great exercise..and there are plans in the future for stuff like this..it is a logistical mess to plan and prepare for something like this..
Even if Lakewood did this I am sure there would be a boatload of onlookers that would be in the way..its not for everyone..its for the first responders to practice
I hate to break the news to you however other organizations mentioned above were supposed to attend but they didn’t/couldnt. Call them and ask them why they weren’t there.
you people have no clue. If there was an issue at Brick hospital. No one from lakewood would be called. We do not need lcsw, or Hatzolah or Lakewood Fire. Police handle traffic flow and at most 5 officers, Fire for stand by and water flow to hospital sprinklers. EMS acts as a task force and it is up to the NJ task force and county EMS coordinators to step in and handle. This is not a local event. There is no freelance of groups. There is control not like in lakewood where people get away with what they want.
Someone had it right. Everyone would be in the way and the people who need to be there could not get the job done.
Lakewood OEM was asked to participate and even volunter to play victim but no one comitted until last minute (CERT) and many did not want to stay the whole day. there was no need for more groups to show off a trailer. Do not blame anyone but these organizations for poor representation.
lakewood hatzolah chavrim snd hatzolah deal were invited, they didnt show
I think the task force is a waste of public spending. there is no reason why towns can’t work together and solve the issues at hand with the help and support of neighboring towns, Lakewood has proven this several times and for decades before task forces were thought of. This task force is a political game, nightmare and power trip for certain individuals they come into your town and just want to take over and control the whole thing. The EMS and Fire Coordinator is just a liasion to other towns and that’s how it should be kept. Lakewood is very unique YES, I will never argue that statement but Lakewood gets the job done with respect and dignity to the community and with zero to very minor injuires if any to the responders of all agencies within Lakewood, they cooperate and work together to resolve the issues at hand. A recent example is the storm incident that happened a couple of weeks ago that included power outages, wires/trees down, structure fires, fire alarms, 2 evacuations (apartment building and nursing home), in the beginning it was all done with the Lakewood First Responders then the decision came about to bring in support from outsiders due to long distant relocations taking place at the nursing home but Lakewood remained in control to make the operations run smoothly which we have always proven in the past. I say great job to all of those Lakewood First Responders (which includes all agencies in Lkwd) keep up the good work and show everyone how it can be done by using your own brains, experience, training, local resources and your good sound judgement to make any disaster turn into a successful and safe outcome.