Marshall County Schools, EMA Hold Mock Emergency At Sherrard Middle
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The mock emergency that the Marshall County Emergency Management Agency and Marshall County Schools held Tuesday morning at Sherrard Middle School wasn’t without its hiccups, Marshall County EMA Director Tom Hart said. But that’s exactly how he wanted it.
"Honestly, you don’t want them to go smooth," Hart said. "You don’t want them to go without any bumps, because that’s not realistic. You need to find your holes and your gaps so you can work on that."
In that regard, Hart said, the mock emergency drill was a great success. He praised the participation from Marshall County Schools employees -- about 100 from across the district took part in the drill Tuesday -- and a long list of law enforcement and emergency service providers were able to get needed experience in how to respond to an emergency at the school.
Other participating agencies included the Marshall County 911 Center, Marshall County EMS, Marshall County Health Department, Sherrard VFD, Mt. Olivet VFD, Bethlehem EMS, Limestone EMS, Glen Dale EMS, WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital, WVU Medicine Reynolds Memorial Hospital, Westcom Medical Command Coordination Center, the West Virginia State Police, Bethlehem Police Department, West Virginia Emergency Management Division, Ohio County 911 Center, Ohio County Health Department, Ohio County Sheriff's Department, Wheeling-Ohio County Emergency Management and Marshall County Emergency Management.
The exercise included a mock shooter drill with mock victims, each with an injury of differing severity. Law enforcement cleared hallways while emergency medical personnel cared for the injured.
Marshall County Sheriff Mike Dougherty said the exercise went very well in the way so many different organizations were able to work together to diffuse the situation and help those who needed it.
"Everybody worked well together," he said. "The communication was great and it just makes you feel better knowing that, when we get together in a group like this, if God forbid something does happen, the ground rules are basically down."
The school district and Marshall County EMA rotate through different schools each year for these drills, Hart said, so that everyone involved gets to see what dealing with such emergencies looks like in different environments and school floor plans. Shey McGuire, Marshall County Schools’ coordinator for school safety, said one thing learned Tuesday was that if gunshots come from one side of the school, they might not be heard on the other side of the school.
"After the debriefing, that’s why I encourage everybody to take those thoughts to their schools and talk about it with their coworkers," McGuire said. "They can see there are changes they need to make in their situations, but also they can just share their experience in that situation."