Fall-Ex: Healthcare Coalition Communications Exercise

On December 11, 2019, the Northwest Healthcare Response Network (the Network) is hosting Fall-Ex, a recurring exercise designed to support healthcare organizations and partner agencies. This year's Fall-Ex will provide an opportunity for playing facilities to test their operational communication plans and processes, as well as practice communicating and coordinating with the Network and other response partners in a community exercise.

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Exercise Date

Wednesday, December 11, 2019, 1:00pm – 3:00pm

Exercise Participants

Exercise play will be open to all healthcare organizations and partner agencies from the 15 counties and contiguous sovereign tribal nations within the Coalition service area.

Components of Play

Exercise participants are expected to participate remotely [at their facility], and be prepared to:

1. Receive alerts from the Network.
2. Attempt communication with at least two contacts listed in their communications plan.
3. Test at least two modes of communication during the exercise (such as email, phone, radio, etc).
4. Complete a post-exercise survey about how the exercise went and lessons learned to receive credit.
   

Coalition-Wide Exercise Objectives

1. All playing facilities will successfully stand up their incident command structure and/or activate their communications plan within the first 60 minutes of exercise play.
2. All playing facilities will attempt to contact at least 2 external partners listed in their communications plan, using at least 2 different communication systems (such as email, phone, radio, etc.)
3. All playing facilities will complete a post-exercise survey within by 17:00 on December 16th to receive participation credit.
   

Registered Facilities

1. All playing facilities will develop their own facility-specific objectives before the exercise. They can be similar to the coalition-wide objectives or different depending on your facility's needs.
   
2. All playing facilities will choose a designated controller and evaluator (can be the same person) who will facilitate the exercise and evaluate whether the exercise play was able to accomplish the facility exercise objectives.
   
3. All playing facilities are encouraged to develop their own After Action Report and Improvement Plan (AAR/IP) which summarizes how the exercise went, identifies strengths and areas for improvement, and sets specific actions to take which will address the identified areas for improvement.
   

If your facility could use support in developing objectives, evaluating/controlling the exercise, or crafting the After Action Report and Improvement Plan, the Network will be providing two webinar trainings that will address these topics. Registration for the webinars can be found here:

13:00-16:00 November 21 Webinar

9:00-12:00 November 26 Webinar

Exercise Rules

1. Do not call 9-1-1, even if it is in your communications plan.

2. All communication messages should begin and end with “THIS IS AN EXERCISE”.

3. [OPTIONAL CONTROLLER INJECT] The assigned facility’s controller for this exercise may declare a specific communication system ‘no-longer functioning’, forcing players to use alternative communication systems. Facilities should continue to use their communication systems for everyday operations.
   

Exercise Scenario

A moderate intensity geomagnetic storm is impacting electronic communications across the region. Phone lines, cellular, email, radio, and all other forms of electronic communications are going in and out. You've got 120 minutes to test communication systems and contact people listed in your operational communications plan.

*** Participation in this exercise is fully voluntary. This exercise is designed to provide an opportunity for organizations and agencies to identify and evaluate their own strengths and limitations. The Network will not evaluate individual participants or facilities. In addition, all information the Network obtains during exercise play will be de-identified before it is shared. ***

By registering for this event, you will receive periodic emails with additional exercise details and updates, including notification of a November exercise briefing (which will cover exercise logistics). If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at info@nwhrn.org