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Drill conducted on top of Hagood garage by Mary Helen Yarborough Public Relations An MUSC parking structure was the scene of a terrible accident involving multiple injuries where medical officials from three states responded to tend to the critically and severely wounded.   First responders participate in a disaster drill on top of the Hagood parking garage. Top level health officials from North Carolina, Florida and South Carolina assembled July 27 - 28 for an AHEC-sponsored training event.   Actually, no one was really injured, but the exercise in which a van would have crashed, leaving more than a dozen injured (grey blow-up dummies tagged with a written description of their injuries) in the garage, was to test medical responses on the scene of a disaster.   The drill, coordinated and hosted by the S.C. Area Health Education Center (AHEC), took place July 27 on the top floor of the Hagood Street garage under threatening weather conditions and hot, thick humidity. Dozens of top medical officials from Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina participated in the event, which also included table-top drills the next day.   In all, medical personnel responded appropriately to 45 of the 50 victims. They later discussed issues to assure that all victims would be treated and referred for care correctly in a triage setting.   S.C. AHEC had invited AHECs in the Southeast to participate in the regional AHEC exercise to evaluate the proposed National Preparedness Curriculum and an AHEC model for distribution of the curriculum. A partnership with AHECs in North Carolina and Florida supported the implementation and delivery of curriculum to key influential community practitioners called Thought Leaders.   Participation as a Regional Thought Leader required that the individual be a health care provider who is likely to be sought by the people in their community at the onset of a public health emergency and who is in a position to affect change within a health care organization, professional association, or patient care arena by impacting policy, educating peers, influencing partnerships, or recruiting resources to prepare for a disaster.   Thought Leaders, a representation of physicians; nurses, pharmacists, physician assistants, and mental health care providers, completed a six-month online preparedness training, and S.C. AHEC Disaster Preparedness and Training Network acted as consultants for the North Carolina and Florida AHEC Disaster Preparedness Education Coordinators in their planning.   At the end of the training period, Thought Leaders attended a regional AHEC collaborative meeting where they demonstrated competencies regarding their professional roles and responsibilities linked to the Target Capabilities List by participating in a National Incident Management System-compliant tabletop exercise.     Friday, Aug. 10, 2007 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.