FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Community collaboration proves key in LEPC’s recent emergency response training exercise
A room at East Central District Health Department on a recent morning was packed with police officers, sheriff’s officials, firefighters, public educators, medical professionals and other community leaders. But it was only a drill.
The Columbus/Platte County Local Emergency Planning Committee’s April 19 emergency response training exercise exceeded all expectations.
“This was a complete success,” said Columbus Police Capt. Doug Molczyk, who was one of the key organizers of the event as a member of the LEPC. “We learned some of our strengths and weaknesses. We will strive to improve both. Working together as a team was our goal and we did it well.”
The local LEPC is made of local leaders from numerous area agencies – Columbus Police and Fire departments; Platte County Sheriff’s Office, Platte County Emergency Management, Columbus Public Schools, East Central District Health Department, Columbus-Platte County Joint Communication Center (JCC) and Columbus Community Hospital; as well as Columbus Mayor Jim Bulkley.
As part of the exercise, a person played the role of a threat who enters Columbus High School and has to be contained (this exercise was conducted on a day in which CPS students were not in school). Volunteer actors played the role of the threat and victims, with the latter making the call to the JCC to report an emergency. Area first responders subsequently got to the scene and worked together to neutralize the threat and transport the victims. CPS officials focused on its response and reunification process while CCH handled its procedures for victims who are brought in for emergency care.
“From my vantage point, it went very well. Of course, I am not trained to understand all of the particulars involved,” Bulkley said. “But I believe this was a great exercise and well worth us doing simply because these things unfortunately happen in our society now and we have to be ready for them.”
Molczyk addressed all exercise participants Friday morning before things kicked off at approximately noon. The exercise was the culmination of nearly two years of extensive planning that included monthly meetings and frequent tabletop exercises, and wouldn’t have been possible without the collaboration among all parties involved.
“The collaboration was outstanding. Everyone was very excited to be a part of this exercise. We had amazing partners …” Molczyk said. “We also had Mayor Bulkley involved. Mayor Bulkley was at almost all of the planning sessions. This shows how deeply committed our community leaders are at building a safe community.”
Platte County Sheriff Ed Wemhoff and Columbus Fire Chief Ryan Gray echoed Molczyk’s sentiment, noting the exercise was a great opportunity for all entities to learn and grow. “Overall, it went very well,” said Wemhoff, who has experience organizing and participating in emergency response exercises. “Exercises like this are designed to teach us something, and I believe we did learn something, so we will take what we learned here today and apply it to what we need to do going forward.”
Said Gray: I think the exercise was a success. The LEPC went into this knowing we could find things we can improve on, and I believe we all can walk away from it finding something we can improve on. We’ve had a lot of meetings and been doing a lot of talking over these last two years, so now that we’ve gone through it, there’s relief but also excitement.”
Platte County Emergency Manager Tim Hofbauer also plays a pivotal role in the LEPC and was on hand to witness the exercise up close. He said he felt it went really well, stressing the importance of all the agencies collaborating to make sure it was successful.
For the last several years, Columbus Public Schools has practiced internally for emergency situations like the exercise conducted last week. CPS Superintendent Dr. Troy Loeffelholz said he’s appreciative of all the agencies involved for participating.
“For the past two years I have witnessed the professionalism, care and love our first responders have for the youth in our community,” Loeffelholz said. “Columbus Public Schools was very fortunate to work with all of these entities to plan an emergency response drill to keep our youth safe.”
Molczyk said all agencies in the LEPC will take what they learned from going through the exercise and begin making adjustments so they can prepare for the next one. He also expressed his appreciation to the community and all LEPC members for making the drill a success.
“We have a great group of people collaborating to provide the best public safety around. We are very blessed to have supportive community leaders and members. We are truly thankful to our community,” Molczyk said.
“I would say that the drill itself exceeded my expectations. The officers, paramedics, communications specialists (dispatchers), school staff and hospital staff did an outstanding job working as a team. All of their training kicked in and they performed well. I am so proud of everyone involved.”
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