Sudden Impact
A plane crash exercise tests UHealth’s disaster response
By Robert C. Jones Jr. and Janette Neuwahl Tannen
Photography and Videography by Daniel Menendez
T
he fuselage of a 20-passenger private jet lay across a major roadway just in front of Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. Next to the plane, a badly crumpled shuttle bus lay on its side. The vehicle, occupied by a group of VIP French dignitaries visiting the medical campus, had been broadsided by the plane that crashed on the roadway.
With bystanders looking on, fire and rescue personnel extricated victims trapped in the wreckage, carrying the wounded to a triage area in front of Sylvester, where paramedics applied splints and bandages and rendered other medical aid.
While the carnage in the heart of Miami’s Health District in the early morning of Sunday, November 12, looked very much like a real-world mass casualty incident, in reality it was a drill orchestrated with all the precision of a Hollywood disaster movie.
Codenamed “Operation Fallen Archangel,” the exercise tested the readiness of the emergency response capabilities of UHealth – the University of Miami Health System and a multitude of local, state and national agencies.
“It was critically important to make this look as real as possible,” said Vincent J. Torres, emergency management director for the Miller School and UHealth, who was instrumental in planning the exercise.
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