By Healthcare Facilities Today

Arlington's Cascade Valley Hospital recently participated in the Great Washington Shake Out, the largest earthquake drill in Washington history, according to an article on the North County Outlook website.

The state-wide drill happened in the morning and all aspects of the hospital responded, according to the article. After taking cover and checking everything in the immediate area was safe, managers from every department gathered to discuss the statuses of the patients, employees and communications while engineers checked the building's integrity, the gas lines and the power lines.

Meliah Isom, the safety manager at the hospital, said she hopes staff "learns how to be prepared so when the time comes there's not panic. They have to know how the administrative pieces will fit together when a disaster happens."

The drills are also a good time to make sure that everyone is personally taking steps for safety by checking for items that could potentially fall and cause injuries, she said.

Read the article.