• Bring agencies together to participate in a 24-hour disaster response exercise.
• Practice setting up medical tents and equipment, and getting supplies in place that would be used in an ongoing response to a medical emergency.
• Foster an environment of interagency collaboration with community-based agencies and organizations as well as adjacent jurisdictions who would respond to a public health emergency.

Objectives

• First responders and receivers will improve knowledge and skills for the requirements of disaster response by means of hands-on practical training.
• Learners will enhance knowledge and skills through guided interaction with those from other disciplines.
• Following the training, participants will be able to demonstrate improved time response to providing emergency relief.
• Participants will be able to give examples of the overarching guidelines to COOP planning and the recovery process.
• Participants will be able to describe the operations of mass care shelter, and the rationale behind its set-up.
• Participants who attend Behavioral health's presentations will leave with increased ability to help with psychological trauma.

The Operation Sunset Exercise

We brought together more than 250 people to participate in the set up of a mobile medical surge site in Freedom Park, Camarillo, July 24-25, 2007.

What We Learned

We learned a lot about how to set up our equipment and how to bring agencies, organizations and community people to respond if a major health related disaster occurs. We learned things we need to be able to do better, and developed ideas for how to do it.

What We Did

To see Operation Sunset in action, please click here for a presentation. To see the 10 minute video of this event, click here.

Michelle Klampe from the Ventura County Star wrote an article on Operation Sunset. The Star also has an online video of the event. (These are external links that may change or be removed in a fairly short period.)

Special Thanks

The following organizations were partners in making Operation Sunset a success. Many other agencies and organizations also participated.

Emergency

Preparedness