Mayor praises ‘incredible coordination’ during Derry major disaster drill

The Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Cllr Ruairí McHugh joined frontline emergency responders and healthcare students at Ulster University’s Magee campus on Saturday, March 21 to witness the annual multi-agency simulation scenarios designed to prepare the next generation of lifesavers.

The Mayor’s visit to the annual Community Resilience Disaster Day provided a first-hand look at an event regarded as unique on the island of Ireland for its scale and breadth of interagency collaboration.

Just over 400 final year Nursing and Paramedic Science students took part in simulation-based learning exercises across the campus. A total of 19 multiagency partners and staff teams delivered scenarios which ranged in severity and assessed students’ ability to work as a team during a simulated crisis/chaotic event.

The day brought together students and staff with representatives from a number of statutory bodies and emergency services including the PSNI, NIAS, Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service, RNLI, Health Action Training, City of Derry Airport, Medical Services Reserves, St. John’s Ambulance, the WHSCT and the BHSCT, and the Red Cross.

During the visit, the Mayor met with some of the 150 first and second-year students role-playing as casualties for the scenarios as well as some of the final-year students being assessed, gaining a deep insight into the leadership skills required to manage different crises.

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Mayor McHugh said: “It was incredibly useful for me to attend today and see the sheer scale of coordination required to keep our citizens safe. I wanted to see first-hand the fantastic work being done by Ulster University and our multi-agency partners to strengthen the resilience of the very people who will soon be staffing our hospitals and emergency services across the North. Seeing their dedication today gives me great confidence in our future healthcare workforce."

The Mayor during his visit to the University took the opportunity to hold brief discussions with representatives from the local councils in the Northern Emergency Preparedness Group who collaborated with the Red Cross to deliver a Survivor’s Reception Centre scenario, thanking them for supporting the city’s emergency planning infrastructure.

Mayor pictured with Derry City and Strabane District Council staff, Caolan Harkin, Anne Gallagher and Liz Cunningham.

Anne Gallagher, Resilience Officer for Derry City and Strabane District Council, said collaboration between local and subregional partners is vitally important.

She said: “Events such as this are foundational to effective emergency planning. Agencies having the opportunity to work together to deliver scenarios provides vital learning that can only strengthen a response to a real crisis”. Noting the fantastic level of student participation, she added “what the university delivers here is invaluable for the students.

Mayor pictured with co-ordinators from the School of Nursing, Florence Sharkey, Theresa Maynes and Michael Matthews.

"The immersive scenarios test their response under realistic pressure, encouraging the development of crisis leadership and communication, interpersonal skills and decision making, key skill sets for the healthcare sector”.