| Dramatic scenario hones AU’s emergency plan BY SALLY ACHARYA Tulane University was in the path of Hurricane Katrina. Catholic University faced an outbreak of norovirus this year that sickened dozens of students during final exams. And even as AU officials gathered for an exercise that simulated an emergency, their counterparts at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey were dealing with a real emergency as more than 250 students, faculty, and staff were lying sick with norovirus. Health epidemics and other emergencies may be rare on campuses, but when they happen, they happen quickly, and a strong emergency plan is key to coping successfully. That’s why many of AU’s top administrators—including the interim president, interim provost, vice presidents, and directors of key departments—gathered last week to be presented with an imaginary scenario and think through what would happen. The exercise in emergency planning imagined a scary and complex scenario: the secret release of an odorless toxin into the Mary Graydon Center ventilation system. What would be the likely response? Who would be called, and when? The group was looking for gaps in coordination and decision making that might keep the process from going smoothly. They also were aiming to understand exactly what services would be critical in the hypothetical disaster, such as ensuring that students were still fed three times a day even if the cafeteria shut down. The scenario was intentionally severe and dramatic, created to put as much imagined stress on the university as possible. “The real point of the exercise is discussion,” said the facilitator, Jodi Kuhn, director of a public health planning and training consultancy. One thing was certain: there would be a lot of phone calls, quickly. “The number of people taken to the hospital would cause Public Safety to get activated,” said Mike McNair, director of Public Safety. It wouldn’t be long before dean of students Faith Leonard, vice president for campus life Gail Hanson, and Interim President Neil Kerwin were on the phone with each other and other administrators. The university has had experience with emergencies before, from Washington’s anthrax scare after Sept. 11 to the 2003 blizzard and hurricane. Sept. 11 led the city and even the country as a whole to put in place a number of protocols, McNair said, to improve emergency response. The “tabletop exercise” was part of honing AU’s emergency plan, imagining a worst-case scenario in order to formulate the best response. |
