MHPC Facilitates Nash Hospital First Receiver Training

At the end of January, MHPC traveled to Rocky Mount, North Carolina to train a group of individuals at Nash County Hospital. MHPC gave a two-day class in the first receiver decontamination program. The class instructors included Scott Hess MHPC and subject matter expert Rick Bearden, from the Center for Domestic Preparedness. The class included emergency nurses from not only Nash Hospital but also other facilities such as Nags Head Hospital. Other participants included paramedics from the emergency medical services at Nash and nurse managers. The first day was teaching the class about hazardous materials, the risk that they present to the community and their healthcare facilities, the precautions that are necessary in order to care for the patients, and how to perform a decontamination of the patients.

The second day of the class was an overview of what they had learned the previous day and new material on how to instruct their teammates at their corresponding facilities. They were given guidance in adult learning and pointers on how to engage their audience. The latter part of the second day was the opportunity for the class to take a section of what they had learned and teach it back to the class. They had subjects such as putting on the decontamination suits and taking the suits off, use of the PAPR and hazardous materials.