By Julie Boyd Cole
West Milford — The West Milford Health Department needs volunteers to pretend to be victims of a widespread outbreak of a life-threatening disease or bioterrorism attack.
"In order to make this emergency preparedness drill as realistic as possible, we are in need of several volunteers from the public to role-play as patients," said West Milford Township Health Director Michael Hodges. "We are asking you and/or your child to volunteer as an actor to play the role of a patient during our upcoming simulation of a Public Health Clinic Emergency Preparedness Exercise."
The drill will take place Saturday, April 14, at the from 9 a.m. until 12 p.m. at Macopin Middle School and is part of the health department's continuing effort to prepare for a public health emergency.
Passaic County Department of Environmental and Public Health Services and the West Milford Health Department are holding the exercise to test a component of the Public Health Emergency Response Plan.
State, County, and Local agencies will be participating in an exercise to evaluate the effectiveness of their current plan, and determine the capability of the public health workforce to administer medications to a large number of people. No one will receive real medications.
In the event of an outbreak of a life-threatening disease, or the intentional release of a biological or chemical agent by terrorists, a major responsibility of public health would be to dispense medications or administer vaccinations to the public that would either prevent or reduce the effects of an exposure.
"By exercising our present plan to dispense medications or administer vaccinations during a large public health clinic, we will be able to determine if any revisions to our plan should be made prior to the occurrence of an actual emergency," Hodges said. "Volunteers from the public, acting as patients, will make the exercise more realistic and allow us to determine how much time it will take for each person to complete the clinic process.
"This information is vital if the need should arise to open a clinic in response to a true public health emergency."
In advance of the exercise, each volunteer “patient actor” will be given a complete orientation to the Public Health Clinic Exercise, the type of symptoms he/she should simulate and what actions are expected of him/her prior to registering at the mock clinic.
It is not necessary to rehearse or memorize the script. This is only an exercise and will not require the actors to participate in any activity that may place him/her at risk. Videotaping and photography will be done for educational purposes only, though media may be present.
"Volunteer participation will allow us to better serve you and your family during a real emergency, and your family will have a memorable public service experience," Hodges said.
If you want to volunteerAll students that participate will receive three Community Service Hours.
Please return your completed Registration Form to the West Milford Department of Health, Nursing Division, 1480 Union Valley Road, no later than Monday, April 2.
If you have any questions, call Rebecca Stumpf at 973-728-2726 or email Nurse1@westmilford.org.