Medical professionals screened hundreds of volunteer "patients" during Saturday's disaster readiness drill held at Washington-Wilkes Comprehensive High School. Wilkes County's health, law enforcement, medical, and other authorities successfully exercised their readiness to deal with an anthrax attack during Saturday morning's drill at Washington-Wilkes Comprehensive High School.

The drill was designed to uncover the potential problems that always occur when a plan is put into effect, Wilkes County Health Department director Jennifer Jackson said. "There were some kinks, and things that we changed in the middle of the exercise to reach our goal, but we met our goal of 219 patients an hour, after the first hour. We learned what worked and what didn't, and changed some things. But we met the goal that the state set for us."

The emergency exercise simulated a scenario in which anthrax had been discovered in the mail in Wilkes County, and tested the ability of local agencies, including the Wilkes County Health Department, the county Emergency Management Agency, Wills Memorial Hospital, Wilkes Emergency Medical Service, and others, to screen and pass out antibiotics to large numbers of citizens.

Some 175 volunteers from several counties played the part of patients during the exercise, and more than 100 local volunteers worked in triage, screening, and assessment of the volunteer patients, sending some for mental health screening or special needs areas.

The last stop on the drill for volunteer patients was the high school gym, where each was screened by a medical professional for antibiotic allergies and prescribed one of two antibiotics for the anthrax exposure.

Gary Zgutowicz, training coordinator with the East Central Health District in Augusta, which ran the drill, held a review session with Jackson and others after the morning's exercise. A more detailed review of the drill and areas for improvement is in the works. "But we got really good reviews from the doctors running the exercise," Jackson said. "We met the state's goals, and we learned a lot."