Lower Keys Medical Center Annual Hurricane Evacuation Drill Announced
6/23/2025
In collaboration with multiple national and local emergency preparedness organizations, Lower Keys Medical Center is coordinating an inpatient hurricane evacuation simulation which will be held on June 26, 2025, at multiple locations.
Each year, Lower Keys Medical Center sponsors a hurricane evacuation drill to test preparedness in the event of a major hurricane which would require hospitalized patients to be evacuated to a safer area of the mainland until the storm has passed. This choreographed exercise involves hospital staff, emergency management, ground and air transportation, fire rescue, law enforcement, multiple military branches, meteorologists, and community health organizations. To ensure the safety and efficiency of all participants, the drill is not open to the public.
The drill begins with modeling of a fictional scenario of a developing system, identifying the steps in the week and days leading up to the storm, including tracking the progression from a tropical depression, to a tropical storm, to a major hurricane, and the communications and preparations involved through those steps. Community partners and military resources are requested following established protocols.
The physical aspects of the drill include training by the Air National Guard to transfer volunteers portraying patients on special litters from the hospital setting into ground transport and onto the Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron aircraft, staged at NAS Key West. Hypothetically, the “patients” would then be flown to a receiving hospital out of the range of impact. The drill concludes with a meeting of all organizations to evaluate and critique interagency communications and collaboration.
Tadd Mallard, RN, LKMC Director of Emergency Services and Emergency Management Chair, said, “The annual drill not only gets all of our partners together – and each organization has a crucial role in a successful evacuation – it also continues to strengthen our relationships and hardwire our interactions. I recall our last evacuation of patients during Hurricane Irma in 2017, which was successful because everyone knew their roles and executed them with familiarity and experience.”
“We can’t thank our evacuation drill collaborators enough,” said Drew Bigby, chief executive officer at Lower Keys Medical Center. “Being prepared is part of our commitment to the safety of our patients, community, and staff, which is our highest priority."
Active participants in the annual hurricane evacuation drill include the Air National Guard, NAS Boca Chica, US Coast Guard, Monroe County Emergency Management, Coast Guard Emergency Management, Monroe County Sheriff’s Office and Trauma Star, Key West Police and Fire Departments, Monroe County Fire Rescue, National Weather Service/NOAA, E-Care Ambulance, Southernmost Medical Transport, Keys Healthy Ready Coalition, and Florida Health – Monroe County.
2024 Lower Keys Medical Center hurricane evacuation
Back