HonorHealth held a mass casualty decontamination incident community full-scale exercise Nov. 2 to allow involved medical centers or agencies to review and evaluate policies, procedures and response to a mass casualty decontamination incident. It also included a tabletop exercise to evacuate HonorHealth Sonoran Crossing Medical Center, 33400 N. 32nd Ave., due to a plume of toxic gas coming from the initial leak.

Evaluators were on site to observe and document performance against established capability targets and critical tasks.

The scenario leading up to the arrival of patients was as follows:

On Thursday, Nov. 2, an accident occurs during a routine chemical delivery to the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. A tanker truck and plant workers were involved in the incident, resulting in a spill of sulfuric acid in the loading dock, parking lot and nearby plant areas. The sulfuric acid reacts with metals and other chemicals in the area, generating a bluish-yellow plume that slowly advances northeastward.

The nearest medical facility to the plant is HonorHealth Sonoran Crossing Medical Center, which is not a trauma center. Three TSMC employees arrive in a privately owned vehicle and alert the medical center of the incident. The medical center begins receiving patients who arrive via POVs. However, given the potential for a significant number of patients, it becomes necessary to transport patients to other medical facilities for triage, decontamination and the tracking of patients needed for family reunification.

In addition to HonorHealth Sonoran Crossing, four other medical centers were involved. HonorHealth Deer Valley, HonorHealth John C. Lincoln, HonorHealth Scottsdale Osborn and Banner Health Thunderbird. Each of those facilities received 17-20 patients to ensure all patients receive the necessary care and the medical centers do not become overwhelmed.

Forty partner organizations were involved including local, state and federal agencies.