NANTUCKET – The Barnstable County Regional Emergency Planning Committee will conduct a joint exercise on Tuesday.
The exercise, called “Operation Mercy Lift”, will take place on Nantucket and Joint Base Cape Cod and will encompass a full scale inter-agency aviation medical response to a simulated plane crash at Nantucket Airport.
The Massachusetts Army National Guard will join the United States Coast Guard, Cape Air and Boston MedFlight in providing air assets for the operation.
Black Hawk medical evaluation helicopters and flight crews from the Army National Guard will be used to evacuate simulated casualties of a plane crash from Nantucket.
The Guard will provide soldiers to play the role of the victims as well as coordinate the mission with civil authorities.
The exercise will build on the initial Massachusetts Emergency Management Authority (MEMA) notification process that was tested in last month’s Operation Safe and Sound, conducted on Martha’s Vineyard.
