Charlotte Olson of Medina and Sherry Grindeland of Bellevue recently completed Homeland Security training at the Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) in Anniston, Ala. Olson, an RN, is an infection control specialist at Evergreen Hospital Medical Center. Grindeland is the public information officer.

The CDP is operated by the United States Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency. It is the only federally-chartered Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) training facility in the country.

Olson and Grindeland were in the 32-hour Healthcare Leadership and Administrative Decision Making Course. Responders are taught an incident command structure to handle all kinds of emergencies and disasters. The training included classroom instruction, tests and practical exercises in disaster preparedness and response. The classes were held in the Noble Training Facility, a former military base hospital

“After this training we will know what to do if faced with an emergency,” said Olson. “We saw what works and what doesn’t and have already started implementing the disaster response preparedness at Evergreen.”

In addition to Olson and Grindeland, the 22-person Evergreen team included representatives from the medical, administrative, finance, IT, communications, human resources, security, supplies, pharmacy, plant operations and marketing areas. The group was led by Barbara Jensen and Warren Appleton, MD. Jensen is the manager of emergency preparedness and Appleton is the medical director of emergency response for the hospital.

Other participants included Libby Allgood, Warren Appleton, MD, Richard Bartz, Bob Blanchard, Joe Bojorquez, Debbie Brown, Lynn Brown, Tony Carrillo, Trish Falcone, Michelle Gordon, MD, Charles Hall, Nancy Hamilton, Kevin Hanson, MD, Barb Jensen, Ramona Koop, Tom Martin, Shahid Rashid, Vicki Ravenscroft, Debbie Saknit and Lavon Weighall.