MOUNT VERNON — A training exercise orchestrated by the administration of the Ohio Eastern Star Home helped first responders and the nursing home staff prepare for an emergency known as an elopement, a resident leaving the home without the knowledge of the staff.

For nursing homes such as Ohio Eastern Star which care for patients with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, keeping residents from wandering away is a priority.

OES administrator-in-training Cindy Bell explained that alarms are used on the doors to alert staff in the memory loss unit of the facility, should one of the dementia or Alzheimer’s patients wander away.

Bell said that although no patient has ever eloped from the home’s property, or even past the entrance doors, her staff trains for such an emergency regularly.

“We train quarterly as part of the Joint Commission standards, which is an accreditation which we have,” Bell explained.

For Tuesday’s drill, Bell invited the Mount Vernon Fire Department and the College Township Fire Department to participate.

“We worked with them on a drill in the spring and it worked well,” Bell said.

Twenty-seven firefighters participated in the training. Several fire trucks and medics pulled into the Eastern Star parking lot just before 7 p.m., when the MVFD, playing the part of a 9-1-1 dispatcher, informed the fire crews an 85-year-old man with Alzheimer’s was missing from the home.

Mike Harmer, director of engineering for the OES Home, played the part of the missing man. Fire crews organized a search under the direction of MVFD Capt. Dave Mills, who served as incident commander.

Using a laptop computer equipped with special mapping software, firefighters divided the area surrounding the home into sectors, which were searched by groups.

Chris Menapace, MVFD assistant chief, said the amount of searchers needed depended on the terrain. In a wide open field, search groups can be as far apart as 30 yards, according to Menapace.

“If you’re in rough terrain or in the woods, eight to 10 yards is the max,” he said.

Using a thermal imager, firefighters searched the dense woods on the property. Menapace explained the average person walks at a rate of two to three miles per hour; an elderly person with dementia probably walks about one to 1 1/2 miles per hour.

Menapace said that during an actual emergency, such as the search on Baker Road earlier this year for a missing elderly woman with dementia, law enforcement and several fire departments would need to work together to search.

“In a real situation, I would have requested a maintenance person and an administrator at the command center,” Menapace told Bell. “Law enforcement would have been there, too.”

After the exercise, the firefighters met to discuss what had gone well during the training, and what needed improvement.

“Do you feel we had adequate ability to communicate with each other?” Menapace asked.

Several said they believed communication was satisfactory, although some pointed out that if law enforcement was on the scene, firefighters would not be able to communicate directly with deputies from the Knox County Sheriff’s Office, and most firefighters cannot communicate with Mount Vernon police officers because of incompatible radios.

Mills told the participants they did an excellent job. Bell said she thought the exercise was successful for her staff as well.

She said her staff is well prepared for such an emergency.

“By the time [rescue teams] arrive, internally we’ve already checked all the sign-in sheets, we have the chart ready, and a photo,” she said.

Overall, the training was a success according to Bell, Mills and Menapace.

“I was impressed with how units from my department and College Township were able to operate without any breakdown in communication or accountability,” Menapace said. “I think it’s important for the civilian population to interact with us as much as possible. And it’s good for them to see us in action so they know how we are going to react.”