Zephyrhills/East Pasco News

Vicki Buchanan is a woman who likes to be prepared.

In fact, her inherent interest in being one step ahead led the Florida Hospital Zephyrhills nurse supervisor and emergency responder to take part in training offered by the Center for Domestic Preparedness in Anniston, Alabama.

The center, which is operated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency, is the only federally chartered Weapons of Mass Destruction training facility in the nation.

Buchanan, an employee at Florida Hospital Zephyrhills for 23 years, said the experience was amazing.

“People from all across the world came there for training,” Buchanan said.

The interactive training allowed her to use skills she had, and to acquire new ones, she said.

It helped her to “gain a new appreciation for how multiple organizations work together during a mass casualty incident,” she said.

During the training, she and 40 others were placed in realistic scenarios that simulated a wide range of emergencies or disasters, forcing the trainees to effectively handle stressful situations for hours on end.

One exercise focused on what to do when a bomb is attached to someone’s body.

“While we knew it was an exercise in training, you kept thinking in your mind, ‘Is it? Is it really?’” she said. “The pressure was on, and it was absolutely intense.”

Before transitioning into the nursing field, Buchanan was the director of the Pasco County Sheriff’s communication office for 15 years. Prior to that, she spent time in the U.S. Air Force.

As the daughter of a family practice physician, Buchanan decided to seek a new challenge and obtained her nursing degree.

Over the years, she worked her way up from being a registered nurse to becoming a nurse supervisor.

“It’s the best job in the hospital,” Buchanan said. “I’m in every area of the hospital all day long, making rounds. In case of an emergency, or if something were to happen, it would be no problem if I had to get things in order.”

During her time at the Weapons of Mass Destruction Training Center, Buchanan gained a comprehensive understanding of how chemical and biological agents are used as weapons of mass destruction, and how to handle a disastrous situation, if one arises.

With a heightened focus and concern about terrorism nationally and abroad, Buchanan said it’s critical to always be prepared, even in a smaller city like Zephyrhills.

She pointed out the hospital is just 3 miles away from a railroad track that consistently is loaded with trains carrying hydrous ammonia and chlorine gas —two chemicals that can cause a lot of damage if exposed to the public.

Buchanan said it’s impossible to predict if a terror attack would occur in or near Zephyrhills.

“You never know,” she said. “It behooves us all to be ready in a calm, predetermined manner. You have to be cognizant of what (chemical) agents can do and how quickly they act, and how many people are affected.”

If a calamity occurs nearby, Buchanan would lead the hospital’s eight-member Emergency Response Team (ERT) and would be in charge of setting up a triage point outside the 139-bed regional medical center.

“The whole purpose for the hospital ERT is to ‘protect the house.’ That’s the big mantra,” Buchanan said about the hospital. “While it’s a hospital, we have to take care of everybody who comes to the doors, and we have to be prepared to screen the people who show up — ones that are scared or exposed or not exposed. ERT gives us a way to set up a triage point before people get into the building; if someone’s contaminated, we’d do some decontamination before it spreads.”

When tasked with choosing people to serve on her response team, Buchanan said she looked for certain qualities and personality traits suited for dealing with a catastrophe.

“We needed people that I felt were calm in a crisis,” she stated. “Underneath that veneer, they may be going, ‘Oh my gosh, now what?’ but, at least they can maintain their composure and say, ‘OK, this is what’s going on, and this is what we have to do.’

“People I’ve selected on my team in the hospital are people who are amongst their peers viewed as leaders, because you tend to listen to your peers and emulate the actions that they do,” she said.

While the specialized training was grueling and stressful, Buchanan said it was a great learning experience. She thinks more agencies should take advantage of the opportunity.

“Homeland Security provides everything — the training, the housing and the meals. …I would encourage everybody from law enforcement, first responders, health care officials, anybody, to check it out,” she said.

Published January 20, 2016