The scenario was horrific: midway through a concert performance by the popular group The Bascom 5 at Stockton University, a section of bleachers collapsed, injuring dozens of attendees. The good news is it wasn’t real. Planners at the New Jersey EMS Task Force dreamed up the tragic scene as the centerpiece of a full-scale exercise with the University, Atlantic County OEM, and AtlantiCare, the region’s healthcare system, to test their ability to respond to such a disaster.

The “collapse” was the focus of a three-day drill for the NJ EMS Task Force (Oct. 25-27), which included 116 team members and more than 34 specialized response vehicles, including Medical Ambulance Buses, stagging trailers, mass casualty response trucks, and special operations vehicles.

“This event is important to the team; it gives us the opportunity to work together and reinforces the need for a team like this,” said Mike Bascom, president of the NJ EMS Task Force. 

NJ EMS Task Force planners spent six months creating the event, from coming up with the scenarios to inventing ways to challenge members while enhancing the organization’s ability to respond to actual mass-casualty events. The annual full-scale exercises are also designed to test the team’s ability to operate, be sustainable in unknown locations, and work together in emergencies within the larger healthcare system setting. Preparedness like this is invaluable and part of why ASPR (Administration for Strategic Preparedness & Response) by the US Department of Health & Human Services funds programs such as the NJ EMS Task Force.

NJEMSTF team members arrived at Stockton University in Galloway, New Jersey, Friday, October 25, and set up camp in the University’s Sports Center. The training event's concept was Stockton University requested the NJ EMS Task Force through Atlantic County Office of Emergency Management to provide standby for the concert, which was expected to attract 5,000 more attendees than the campus’ usual public safety services could provide.

During the event, planners envisioned a bleacher collapse injuring dozens of young attendees. To elevate the level of realism, team members spent hours before the exercise applying moulage to the “victims” to enhance the buy-in from our members during the exercise. Simulation manikins loaned to the NJEMSTF for the exercise by Laerdal Medical were integrated into the exercise, allowing for more invasive, life-saving treatments to be delivered in our treatment tent under the pressure of timely transport to definitive care. 

Survivors of the “collapse” were quickly triaged, treated, and transported to three AtlantiCare emergency departments. The JEMSTAR program, a medevac unit that operates in conjunction with University Hospital, the NJ Department of Health and the NJ State Police Aviation Unit, also responded with their SouthSTAR Air Medical Helicopter to simulate transporting two trauma patients to a regional trauma center.

Debra Bell, an NJ EMS Task Force leader who served as the incident commander for the drill, noted that the event featured many new members in roles they hadn’t been in before. She said that helps build the next generation of leaders. Combined the team members accounted for 3,572.9 person hours.

“Each year, we see improvement with our team,” Bell told the team afterward. “You thought of different things to improve. Thank you to everyone for your cooperation.”

The NJ EMS Task Force is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit that was formed in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The team unites more than 200 emergency medical professionals from across the state who come together to respond to crises of any size. The NJ EMS Task Force is at the forefront of the state’s emergency response to natural disasters, public health crises, mass-casualty incidents, increasing emergency surge capacity, and much more. Since its inception, the NJ EMS Task Force members have been trained to respond to any hazard that threatens the state and has played a substantial role in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Superstorm Sandy, the Super Bowl, countless floods, festival concert events, hospital evacuations, wildfires, and threats of civil unrest. The NJEMSTF relies on funding from the State of New Jersey, the Department of Health, and donations from the public to provide this service.

“We have an awesome team,” Chuck Uhl, NJ EMS Task Force leader, told the team. “Your feedback, we are going to take that all in. At the end of the day, if we didn’t need improvement, we wouldn’t be here today.”

Shortly after the last “patient” was transported, team members began the process of demobilizing, which included dismantling a medical tent set up to treat patients and everything required to keep the team operating during an event.

“You keep proving over and over,” Bascom told the team, “that we have the best of the best from around the state, and we prove it every time we get together.”