Specialist Jonathan Kelly of Camp Atterbury and nurse Donna Thomas of Franklin load an actor onto a gurney during a practice medical training from the camp at Johnson Memorial Hospital in August 2013.
Daily Journal Archives
News from around Johnson County as reported on Aug. 15 in the pages of the Daily Journal and the Franklin Evening Star from the last 112 years.
On this day in 2013, the main story on the front page of the Daily Journal was about how Johnson Memorial Hospital was part of a disaster training.
“A Black Hawk helicopter touched down on the helipad and soldiers moved two patients with severe facial burns onto hospital gurneys,” the story began.
As part of the annual Vibrant Response training at Camp Atterbury, health workers and soldiers prepared for a worst-case scenario: a nuclear explosion that destroyed an urban area.
It may have only been a simulation, but to passersby, it looked as it as it could get.
The simulation began with a 911 call for an air ambulance. A local dispatcher called the military for help and the Black Hawk team from San Antonio made a flight from Camp Atterbury into Franklin with the patients. Soldiers unloaded them, and JMH nurses rolled gurneys into the trauma center.
In the event of a disaster such as a nuclear detonation, hurricane or massive tornado, military units are the last group to be called in for help. The Vibrant Response training keeps soldiers up to date on how they’ll help in an event where local, state and federal emergency crews are overwhelmed.
“We have a model that we’re last in and first out. We go in. We help get a civil authority back on their feet. Once they’re ready, we back out,” Lt. Col. Allen Hahn said.
In the scenario at JMH, local medical helicopters had more patients than they could handle. So, they called in the military to transport some patients to the hospital.
The training was designed to give soldiers additional practice working for local hospitals, but local dispatchers and hospital staff also got the benefit of practicing for a disaster.
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Other memorable Johnson County stories from this day
2014
Federal agents planned to run a terrorist attack training at the Greenwood Park Mall.
1994
The suspect in the robbery of a White River Township bank was at large.
1984
A 10-year-old boy was fatally struck by a pickup truck in White River Township.
