Shadow Bowl 2003: a collaborative exercise in community readiness, agency cooperation, and medical response.

This paper describes a model for homeland security, community readiness, and medical response that was applied during an operational exercise around Super Bowl XXXVII. In addition, it describes the products provided by private companies involved in the exercise and how they would have contributed to a medical disaster had one occurred. The purpose of Shadow Bowl was to demonstrate community readiness and medical response to a mass casualty event. The goals of the project were to: (1) provide enhanced public safety using an advanced communication network and sensor grid; (2) develop mass casualty surge capabilities through medical reach-back; and (3) build a collaboration model between civilian, military, public, and private partners. The results of the Shadow Bowl Exercise accentuated the value of new telehealth and disaster medicine tools in treating large numbers of patients when infrastructure overload occurs.