Mass Casualty Response At Conference With Dozens Of Special Needs Kids

A power outage at a Falls Township hotel hosting a medical conference triggered a mass casualty response Thursday evening.

Responders were dispatched to the Sheraton Hotel Bucks County on Oxford Valley Road at approximately 6:15 p.m. for reports that dozens of medically fragile children required care.

The hotel was hosting a conference for the International Foundation for CDKL5 Research.

There were about 200 attendees. Among them were 65 children with special needs and roughly half rely on ventilators, an official told LevittownNow.com.

The life-support devices were running dangerously low on battery power during the blackout, which started around 1 p.m., the official said.

The county declared a mass casualty incident around 6:30 p.m., which triggering a large-scale response that brought more vehicles and manpower. Additional ambulances were needed to back-fill.

Firefighters and emergency medical personnel evaluated and tended to the children, officials said.

Falls Township Fire Marshal Rich Dippolito said crews brought all the special needs kids to the ballroom to be cared for and firefighters checked each room to make sure no one was stranded.

“It was chaotic for a while, but PECO got the power back on in time,” Dippolito said.

The township’s public works crews began bringing generators to the hotel.

The situation was resolved at approximately 7 p.m. when power was restored to the hotel.

By 7:30 p.m., ambulances were clearing the scene and returning to their stations.

The Fairless Hills, Falls Township, Levittown No. 1, and Morrisville fire companies responded. The Levittown-Fairless Hills Rescue Squad and Penndel-Middletown Emergency Squad sent ambulances to the hotel.

CDKL5 is a rare genetic epileptic disorder caused by mutations in the CDKL5 gene. The condition can result in severe neurological and physical impairments, leaving some individuals dependent on ventilators.

The International Foundation for CDKL5 Research hosts events and works toward finding treatments to cure the disorder.