Fellowship Community, Whitehall, held an emergency preparedness drill Oct. 15 to test the effectiveness of its emergency policies and procedures.

“We want to be well prepared for any emergencies that arise and enlisted the help of first responders to participate in the drill,” said Robert Zentz, president/CEO of Fellowship Community. “Our main goal is to ensure the safety of our residents, our employees and the Whitehall community. The Whitehall Township Bureau of Police, Whitehall Fire Department, Lehigh County 911 and Cetronia Ambulance Corps will be instrumental in evaluating the drill and recommending improvements for Fellowship and first responder procedures.”

“Businesses should always be evaluating their current policies and procedures and updating them as needed. Those who engage in realistic training scenarios and evaluate their policies and procedures will be much better prepared when a real incident occurs,” says Lt. Greg Bealer of the Whitehall Township Bureau of Police. “The middle of a chaotic emergency is not the time to find out your established policies are not realistic.”

According to Bealer, drills are essential for all agencies to put their employees in a situation as close to real world as possible. In his experience, Bealer has seen that employees who participate in a simulated event are familiar with the mental processes and stress required to evaluate and respond to an emergency situation and will be less likely to freeze in a real event.

The emergency preparedness drill was designed to give our employees a better understanding of the functions of emergency responders and responders the chance to react to a chaotic incident and practice skills that are very rarely used in their everyday jobs.

“Drills allow us all to make simulated mistakes, which are some of the best training tools,” says Bealer.