Mount Desert Island Hospital will offer all scheduled appointments and unscheduled medical services during the town of Bar Harbor’s Mass Casualty Operation exercise on Wednesday, May 18.
MDI Hospital will be an active participant in the disaster drill, particularly in the Emergency Department, but service to patients will not be affected in any way. “The Emergency Department will remain fully operational throughout the drill and real world emergencies and patient care will take absolute priority over any drill activity,” said Emergency Department Director Chris Costello.
The mass casualty exercise is being staged through a partnership between the town of Bar Harbor, the US Coast Guard, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and numerous local and regional emergency response services. It will simulate the region’s response to an incident that carries the potential to require large scale rescue and medical operations.
MDI Hospital is using the drill to test its readiness to receive larger than normal volumes of patients in a short window of time. “While the mission of any emergency department is to respond to unforeseen health issues, this kind of drill gives us the opportunity to test our readiness in a very realistic setting,” Costello said.
Patients and visitors to the hospital during drill hours of 10 am to 2 pm on May 18 will likely see the hospital’s participation in this important readiness exercise but it will have no impact on the level of services provided.