The Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre deliberately introduced chaos on Tuesday to test the strategies and procedures that staff and volunteers work so hard to implement every day.

The mock-disaster exercise pushes health care workers to be at the ready in any crisis, by practice.

The staff is challenged to carry on treatment and evacuations while the usually busy emergency centre continues to have patients streaming in.

“By preparing, we are ensuring the staff members are trained and educated on what to do.  We are going to reduce the impact of any type of an emergency,” said Heather Stubbs, exercise lead.

The hospital administration will review the success and failures of Tuesday's exercise.  In the coming weeks, that information, along with any suggestions for improvement, will be forwarded to the county and all area emergency services.