Missouri Hope disaster drill returns to Mozingo
FILE PHOTO
Air ambulance personnel and Northwest Missouri State University students simulate an aerial medical evacuation during last year’s Missouri Hope disaster response training exercise at the Mozingo Outdoor Education Recreation Area. Volunteers are still needed for this year’s three-day exercise, which is scheduled for the weekend of Oct. 7-9.
MARYVILLE, Mo. — Northwest Missouri State University will host its fourth annual Missouri Hope disaster response field training exercise Friday, Oct. 7, through Sunday, Oct. 9, at the Mozingo Outdoor Education Recreation Area adjoining Mozingo Lake Recreation Park east of Maryville.
Organizers say they are still seeking students, community members, and local and state first responders to work as volunteers during the event.
Missouri Hope is an intensive domestic disaster simulation required as part of the curriculum for Northwest students pursuing degrees or academic minors in emergency disaster management. The exercise takes place in and around MOERA’s “Redden Village” — a mock-up of a community hit by a tornado or other calamity — and also utilizes the nearby Mozingo Lake group camping facility, which is owned by city,
According to a Missouri Hope release, volunteers of all ages are needed to role-play as disaster victims and spontaneous volunteers. Help is also needed with such tasks as applying “moulage” — theatrical makeup designed to simulate severe injuries.
To sign up, go to http://goo.gl/m4KoEv.
University officials describe Missouri Hope as a “full immersion field training exercise.” The event is put together each fall by Northwest’s Consortium for Humanitarian Service and Education.
Partner agencies include Maryville Public Safety; Nodaway and Buchanan County emergency management personnel; the Nodaway County Ambulance District; LifeFlight and LifeNet air ambulance organizations; the State Emergency Management Agency Region H Marine Hazmat Team; the 1-129th Field Artillery Battalion, Missouri Army National Guard; and the Guard’s 139th Airlift Wing.
Others taking part will include students from colleges and universities throughout the United States.
Participation is open to all Northwest students, regardless of major or minor. Those taking part do not have to sign up for academic credit. However, credit is available for those wishing to acquire it.
Student training over the weekend includes learning to work with teams in “mass casualty” situations involving rescues, extrications, and marine operations.
Participants are expected to attend the entire exercise, and those assigned to disaster response teams will rotate through both leadership and “followership” roles.
MOERA is a 320-acre compound adjoining the City of Maryville’s Mozingo Lake Recreation Park east of town. It is operated by Northwest’s School of Health Science and Wellness and provides a variety of outdoor education and recreation opportunities, including a rope tower course, trap shooting and archery, canoes and kayaks, and outdoor research.
For more information about Missouri Hope 2016, email Peter Adam at [email protected]. For more information about Northwest’s emergency and disaster management program, email John Carr at [email protected].
