On Saturday, October 11th, 2014 EMS Lieutenant Gensamer and Career Staff Supervisor Kennedy attended an Active Shooter and Reunification Drill that was held at Freedom Village Retirement Community in West Brandywine Township.

Freedom Village was staged as a Family Reunification Center for a simulated incident at the Pope John Paul School also located in West Brandywine. Both of these large facilities are within the primary ambulance service coverage area of Westwood EMS.

The purpose of this drill was to identify any unmet needs and to enhance the abilities of our first responders, reunification deployments team, and other agencies that would be involved during an active shooter emergency.

The Department of Emergency Services, as well as Pope John Paul Elementary School, various EMS personnel and emergency responders, and Freedom Village Retirement Community have been working together for several months to create an effective orderly process to reunite families after such a crisis in the school.

Registration began at 0730 hours, followed by a "player" briefing and breakfast at 0815. At 0845, the players were placed in their designated areas and the drill began promptly at 0915. Student actors were placed in a Student Holding Area where an attendance was taken to assure the safe arrival of all students. Parent actors were then one by one released from a Parent Waiting Area into the Parent Check In Area. Identification was matched to emergency contact information provided by the school and then parents were then placed in 1 of 3 Student Release Areas.

The actors displayed an enormous amount of emotion during these drills which is key in keeping the exercises as close to the real experience as possible. Once students were reunited with their families, they were directed by reunification personnel to proceed to a Mental Health Area for brief evaluation. Drills were continued until approximately 1100. Once the exercises were complete, all participants were released to the 4th Floor Auditorium for a debriefing followed by a lunch provided by Harry's Hot Dogs in Sadsburyville.

We were proud to partner with the following agencies participating in this event: Chester County Department of Emergency Services, Chester County Intermediate Unit, Chester County Sheriff's Office, Pope John Paul Regional Elementary School, West Brandywine Township, American Red Cross, Krapf Bus Company, West Brandywine Police Department, East Brandywine Fire Company, and the Chester County Health Department.

We would also like to extend a special thank you to Freedom Village for their continued support of the community and Westwood EMS.