NEWPORT – Students at Salve Regina University recently held an exercise to rehearse distributing emergency medication to 6,000 people in the event of a public health crisis.
The exercise was held by 50 graduate students taking a homeland security incident management course and was part of a yearlong PrepareAthon campaign in which the students are also taking part. Students filled out forms and received mock medication, and the distribution process was timed and extrapolated to estimate the time required to process 6,000 people in the event of a health crisis.
Salve Regina is a registered partner in PrepareAthon, which encourages individuals, organizations and communities to prepare for specific hazards through drills, group discussions and exercises. Newport Fire Department also deployed a rescue crew and Newport Police maintained a presence at the event. Representatives from Salve’s nursing department and office of safety and security, as well as Rhode Island’s Department of Health, were also involved.
