Left, Kristen Pupols RN, BSN, Clinical Quality Improvement Specialist, Ministry Saint Michael’s Hospital with Stacey Firkus, MT (ASCP), MPH, Infection Prevention, Ministry Saint Michael’s Hospital stand outside the FEMA training center. (Contributed photo)

For the City-Times

Ministry Health Care’s emergency management team leaders, Stacey Firkus, MT (ASCP), MPH, Infection Preventionist, and Kristen Pupols RN, BSN, Clinical Quality Improvement Specialist, Emergency Management, recently completed training offered by the Center of Domestic Preparedness (CDP), in Anniston, AL.

The CDP is operated by the United States Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and is the only federally-chartered Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) training in the nation.

The CDP develops and delivers advanced training for emergency response providers, emergency managers, and other governmental officials from the state, local, and tribal governments. The CDP offers more than 40 training courses focusing on incident management, mass casualty response, and emergency response to a catastrophic natural disaster or terrorist act. Training at the CDP campus is federally funded at no cost to state, local and tribal emergency response professional or their agency.

“As the only emergency room in Stevens Point, it is important to us to have the latest and high-quality training should a large-scale community emergency take place,” shared Kristen Pupols RN, BSN, Clinical Quality Improvement Specialist, Ministry Saint Michael’s Hospital.  “The CDP training was extremely thorough and informative.”

Resident training at the CDP includes healthcare and public health courses at the Nobel Training Facility, the nation’s only hospital dedicated to training healthcare professionals in disaster preparedness and response.

CDP training is extremely comprehensive and for two days, Stacey and Kristen made critical decisions on how to treat patients successfully in emergency situations.

“We covered a variety of simulated events including; chemical explosions, active shooters, and biological outbreaks,” shared Stacey Firkus, MT (ASCP), MPH, Infection Prevention, Ministry Saint Michael’s. “It was a great experience and lessons learned from our time at the CDP will be shared with our team here at Ministry Saint Michael’s Hospital so we can be better prepared for disaster situations in order to provide the best care possible.”

About Ministry Health Care

Ministry Health Care, which includes the recently acquired Affinity Health System, is an integrated health care delivery system serving more than 1.1 million people across Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota. Ministry operations generate more than $2.2 billion in annual operating revenue with 15 hospitals, 46 clinics and nearly 12,000 employees. More than 650 physicians and advanced practice clinicians provide personalized care at Ministry primary and specialty care clinic locations. Home health care, hospice and long-term care services are also provided across the region.

Ministry was founded by the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother more than 120 years ago to further the healing ministry of Jesus by continually improving the health and well-being of all people, especially the poor. Ministry is ranked among the top 20 percent of health care systems in the country by Truven Health Analytics, formerly Thomson Reuters.