Staff at Johnstown's Memorial Medical Center are preparing for the worst-case scenario by conducting a five-day mock training session.

Staff kicked off the training by preparing for the bird-flu virus. The scenario was that the H5N1 virus was confirmed in Thailand, then a man who recently visited China came to Memorial Medical Center with respiratory symptoms similar to the H5N1.

In the scenario, the patient had also infected some of his family and co-workers. Next, the staff practiced for a massive influx of patients.

Hospital officials said the hypothetical situation prepares staff members for many components that come along with a pandemic.

Pandemics have broken out twice in the past 150 years: the Spanish flu in 1918 and the Asian flu in 1957.