Norwood Hospital Successfully Executes Mass Casualty Disaster Drill After Simulated Balch School Collapse-September 29, 1967

For most people, Thursday afternoon began normally and calmly. But at 3:21 p.m., the report came across the wire: the Balch School on Washington Street had suddenly collapsed, leaving 20 elementary school students with severe simulated injuries requiring immediate medical intervention.

Fortunately, the crisis was entirely fictitious—a carefully plotted surprise mass-casualty drill designed by the hospital administration to satisfy a Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals requirement for a written disaster plan and regular operational rehearsals.

Mobilizing the Emergency Response

As soon as Civil Defense Director Joseph McAuliffe notified local authorities, the hospital shifted immediately into a “Code 11” disaster plan. Public nurses, administrative clerks, janitors, security police, and laboratory technicians raced to man their assigned alert posts.

Transporting the “victims” required a coordinated fleet, including a police ambulance, two Post Office trucks, a Red Cross vehicle, and the Norwood Recreation Department station wagon. Captain John P. Souza directed security personnel as they picked up the casualties from the disaster site at five-minute intervals, rushing them to the hospital’s emergency entrance.

Volunteers Play Their Parts

The volunteer “victims” were 20 members of Boy Scout Troop 83, who had assembled earlier at 3:00 p.m. at the Balch School to be outfitted with realistic masks, splints, bandages, and theatrical makeup applied by McAuliffe and an assistant.

Once inside the emergency ward, experienced doctors and nurses stood ready to triage. Women from the medical records department rushed out with index cards to tag the youngsters and record vital details. While most scouts maintained solemn expressions—including one boy whose face featured a chillingly realistic simulated wound with congealing blood—others couldn’t resist a bit of banter.

Eleven-year-old Mark Maienza, strapped into a chair after joking he had a broken back, tried to talk his way into keeping his makeup mask: “Halloween is coming,” he cajoled. Another scout, rolled through on a stretcher, yelled to a friend, “Hey, Bob. Hi. They already fixed me,” to which his companion cheerfully shouted back about imaginary internal pains before being dispatched straight to the operating room.

Smooth Execution and Sweet Rewards

Medical oversight for the drill was managed by co-chairmen Drs. Arthur Klein, Louis A. Sieracki, and Martin L. Bradford, while assistant hospital administrator Donald S. Broas served as co-coordinator alongside McAuliffe. Broas noted that while staff knew a drill was expected sometime that day, only a few key personnel knew the exact timing.

The medical staff performed efficiently: even Walpole physician Dr. Jan Skancky rushed from his crowded office upon hearing the emergency alert, checked in, and then returned to his patients once his role was complete. By 3:45 p.m., all mock victims had been completely evacuated from the Washington Street area, and by 4:05 p.m., every participant had been diagnosed, treated, and processed.

Declaring the exercise an absolute success, Broas remarked, “The real purpose of this drill is to teach people to move and to fill out forms… Of course we’re better under real conditions, like the Walpole riot last year. But the drill was a success.”

With their mission officially completed at 4:15 p.m., the hardworking Boy Scouts were treated to a well-earned reward in the hospital cafeteria: ice cream and cookies.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger