You are the Health Care Administrator of a 255- bed acute care hospital with a 35- bed emergency department that has 24 hours per day, 7 days per week coverage. You already have in place your Emergency Operations Plan (EOP), have applied an All Hazards Approach, and have done several emergency preparedness exercises with the staff of your facility.
It is 5:30 am on a Thursday morning and you are notified by someone at your hospital that there is a wild-land fire fast approaching. You jump in your car and safely race toward the hospital, assess the situation, and activate your (EOP).
- Background Information
a. Name your facility
b. Choose your City and State c. Begin Hospital Incident Command System (HICS). List who will take on each role within HICS and what their roles will be.
i. Start with who will be your Incident Commander (IC); it might be your Emergency Manager or someone else; then move on to the other roles. Some of the roles may later be handed over to someone with more expertise in a particular area (Such as the Fire Department etc).
d. Identify where the Hospital Emergency Operations Center (HEOC) will be and what items are in place (ie walkie talkies, computers, FAX machines, flash lights, etc….) e. Who do you want by your side and you gear up for this disaster? f. What is your method for reaching out to additional staff? (ie chaplains, physicians, nurses, respiratory therapist, laboratory technicians, housekeeping, security, plant services etc.) 2. The EOP, HICS, and at HEOC are all in place. You (as the person in charge of the hospital) are receiving frequent updates from the IC — who is receiving updates from emergency personnel. As the fire grows and gets closer, more people are coming to the hospital for shelter.
a. Where do you place new patients (ie smoke inhalation, possible burns, chest pain from stress) and their families who may not have a medical need but require a place to stay? (hallways, cafeteria, etc) b. How and where do you set up your triage area? Can it be done outside or (because of the smoke) does it have to be in an area inside the hospital? i. Give details about how you will set up the triage area, including decontamination as needed, dispensing medication, treatments. etc. c. Do you have the necessities needed for the extra patients and families (ie food, water, bedding, medical supplies, toilette paper)?