TAMPA, Fla. — James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital, the Air
National Guard and local emergency management personnel are holding a medical evacuation exercise Thursday at the Tampa International Airport.
They're calling it Exercise Patriot South 20. It's a full-scale exercise that will include a cargo aircraft arriving at the Sheltair Aviation ramp with Air National Guard members playing the part of patients who need to be evacuated after being "injured" in a Category 4 hurricane.
Emergency crews will transport the "patients" to Tampa General
Hospital and St. Joseph's Hospital for treatment.
The Patriot South Exercise Program is a National Guard Bureau training program. It focuses on joint operations with state, county and local responders, and allows Soldiers and Airmen the ability to train to their domestic military requirements.
The exercise also allows James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital staff to practice receiving, triaging, staging, tracking and transporting patients affected by a
disaster or national emergency.
The exercise starts around 11:30 and is expected to last 2.5 hours.
What other people are reading right now:
- Florida hospital worker accused of sucking on sleeping patient's toes
- Cancer medication, beads of courage stolen from family
- Florida woman accused of zipping her boyfriend in a suitcase, where he couldn't breathe
- VERIFY: Fact-checking President Trump's coronavirus press conference
- Feisty baby stares down doctors seconds after birth
- Skyway 10K guide: Everything you need to know to race
FREE 10NEWS APP:
