'Catastrophic Event' at Towson University Planned

TOWSON, MD – First responders, Towson University students and area schoolchildren will hold an emergency preparedness exercise Friday at the university's campus.

The goal is for Towson University students who are pursuing health careers to practice emergency response techniques and protocol along with first responders and local hospital personnel.

Students from Maryland School for the Deaf and Friends School are participating in the simulation as "victims."

After making fake wounds from approximately 7 to 9 a.m., those conducting the exercise will begin.

University officials said that a "catastrophic event" will be simulated at 9 a.m.

Then a nursing simulation exercise will begin at 9:15 a.m. in Linthicum Hall.

Ambulances and private vehicles will take the "victims" to GBMC and Union Memorial Hospital at 9:30 am.

By 11 a.m., the drill—called "Operation STAT"—will conclude.

Students from local schools help play the victims during emergency preparedness drills at Towson University. This Operation STAT exercise was from 2014. Photo Credit: Towson University/Flickr.