CALLICOON — A former nurse at Grover M. Hermann Hospital in Callicoon was awarded $490,000 in a civil suit against Catskill Regional Medical Center and other defendants on Thursday, September 22, after being traumatized during a fake robbery training drill back in 2012.

Alison Mastandrea, a resident of Roscoe, was working as an emergency room nurse on April 26 of 2012 when the hospital conducted a training drill that replicated a narcotics robbery.

“The hospital openly admitted that they didn't let Alison and other staff at the hospital know about the drill,” said Mastandrea's lawyer David Jaroslawicz. “They wanted to see how the staff would react in such a scenario.”

According to the lawsuit filed by Mastandrea in November 2012, although she had participated in a post-drill debrief, she was unable to continue working as a nurse after suffering an emotional breakdown. She was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and is now on disability.

“The hospital is really lucky,” said Jaroslawicz. “Alison is licensed to carry a pistol and if she had been carrying her pistol that day this would have ended really badly. This would have been an entirely different scenario.

“Hopefully they'll think about that before they decide to not inform their staff about another drill.”

The trial went on for nearly three weeks in Sullivan County Supreme Court and despite the verdict, Mastandrea's lawyer said the case will most likely continue in appellate court due to appeals pending on both sides.

When asked about the suit, CRMC hospital spokesperson Rob Lee stated, “We cannot comment about ongoing litigation.”