Sponsored by the Prince George’s County Office of Emergency Management, Department of Homeland Security
On Saturday, June 25, 2016, members of the MedStar Southern Maryland Hospital Center (MSMHC) Security Department participated in the Prince George’s County Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) functional exercise along with the Prince George’s County Police and Fire/EMS Departments.
During the exercise, community members demonstrated their ability to conduct community-based search and rescue support operations, insured the capacity to communicate with both the emergency response community and affected populations, established interoperable voice and data communications between CERT Incident Command and first responders and worked to enhance and maintain National Incident Management System (NIMS)-compliant command, control, and coordination structures to meet basic human needs, stabilize the incident, and transition to recovery.
“Watching these community members in action was impressive and informative,” said Chris Wade, director of security. “I am grateful that the hospital has established a partnership with the Prince George’s County CERT.”
Last week, Wade again partnered with Prince George’s Country Police, bringing in Lt. Robert Fox, district five enforcement commander, to run a seminar on Active Shooters for MSMHC employees.
“This training is important because in an emergency, it’s all hands on deck,” said Wade. “Hopefully, in active shooter training, associates learned something and can relay that to other associates—that’s the important part.”
