Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington issued the following statement following a mass-casualty alert today that was not identified as only a drill: "The University of Vermont Medical Center conducted a mass casualty drill earlier today to test the hospital’s ability to handle a surge of patients with varying injuries. During the drill, automated telephone and text messages were sent out in error. This happened as the emergency response team was testing emergency alerts sent through a mass notification system. The messages were stored from previous exercises, and unfortunately did not carry language that the exercise was a “drill.”
"We deeply apologize for any emotional stress or confusion this may have caused. We conduct drills regularly to test and improve our response during simulated emergencies so that our staff is prepared to manage challenging situations. Our leaders are evaluating the factors impacting the messaging error to ensure that it does not happen again."
About the University of Vermont Medical Center
The University of Vermont Medical Center is a 447-bed tertiary care regional referral center providing advanced care to approximately 1 million residents in Vermont and northern New York. Together with our partners at the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, we are Vermont’s academic medical center.The University of Vermont Medical Center also serves as a community hospital for approximately 150,000 residents in Chittenden and Grand Isle counties.
The University of Vermont Medical Center is a member of The University of Vermont Health Network, an integrated system established to deliver high quality academic medicine to every community we serve.
Source: UVMMC 11.13.2018