1 / 32

Receiving Patients in an Evacuation

Receiving Patients in an Evacuation. Allyn Whaley-Martin Director, Safety Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center Region 2 Hospital Coordinator. 8. 7. 6. 9. 2. 4. 5. 3. 1. Hospital Disaster Response Regional Structure. Incident Command. State Emergency Operations Center.

gladys
Download Presentation

Receiving Patients in an Evacuation

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Receiving Patients in an Evacuation Allyn Whaley-Martin Director, Safety Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center Region 2 Hospital Coordinator

  2. 8 7 6 9 2 4 5 3 1 Hospital Disaster Response Regional Structure

  3. Incident Command State Emergency Operations Center Louisiana Hospitals Assn. Dept. Health & Hospitals Louisiana Nursing Homes Assn. Gov. Office Homeland Security & Emergency Prep. Other State Agencies Parish Emergency Operations Center Parish Emergency Operations Center Police Fire EMS Other Parish Agencies Region X Designated Regional Coordinator Hospital A Hospital B Hospital C

  4. Disaster Response Philosophy • Work together. • Share resources. • Communicate.

  5. Contra-flow Plan

  6. Region 2 Acute Care Hospitals

  7. Katrina Impact - Region 2 • East Baton Rouge Parish population increased 22%* increase in population within the first week. • 10,000* people sheltered. • Healthcare capacity across the Region stretched.

  8. Katrina Impact –Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center • ED treated over 3000 patients in the first 8 days. • OLOL Hospital sheltered home ventilator patients • OLOL Children’s Hospital received 28 infants from evacuated New Orleans hospitals.

  9. Katrina Impact – Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center • Nursing Homes housed 70 residents, plus caregivers and family members from evacuated residential facilities. • Lake Line Direct experienced a 30% increase in call volume per day.

  10. Katrina Impact – Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center • College Nursing and Allied Health programs provided medical care to people in general shelters. • Staff and Physicians volunteered at Special Medical Needs Shelter / Field Hospital. • Pharmacy and Laboratory provided outreach services to Special Medical Needs Shelter / Field Hospital.

  11. What did we learn?

  12. Relationships are critical to an effective response. • Access to resources • Political support • Information

  13. Everyone relies on hospitals during disasters. • Medical Care • Shelter • Food • Electricity

  14. Obtain patient “buy-in” to surge plans. • Manage expectations. • Bring resources to the victim.

  15. Medical support is needed in public shelters. • Chronic Illnesses • Oxygen and power • Prescription-writing • Outpatient Dialysis • Mental Health

  16. Evacuees won’t bring their medical records... • Vulnerable Populations Cancer Patients Elderly Pediatrics

  17. …but they will bring their pets! • Hospital-based sheltering not planned. • Community alternatives limited.

  18. Patient tracking must begin with the first person rescued. • Define a central point to assist locating loved ones. • Coordinated systems across all hospitals, public and private shelters.

  19. Work with the Media. • Maintain open lines of communication, with appropriate boundaries. • Say what you know. • Share information responsibly.

  20. In the absence of information, people will create their own “truths”. • Busses of patients? • Public Health Issues? • Rescue Concerns?

  21. Emphasize equipment interoperability. • No failures of communications equipment occurred, but not 100% reliable. • Incorporate volunteers into communication system. • Don’t ignore low-tech options.

  22. Plan to be self-sufficient. • On-site cache? • Relationship with vendor/distributor. • Know HOW to ask for support from State and Federal agencies.

  23. Without coordination, volunteers and donations provide little support • Coordinate with State credentialing process. • Discourage staff from inviting volunteers outside of command structure. • Carefully consider donated supplies.

  24. Security support will not be available. • City / Parish Law Enforcement • National Guard • Private Security Resources • Lockdown vs. Access Control

  25. Take care of your team. • Disaster Staffing Teams • Child / Elder care • Pets • Overtly recognize staff efforts

  26. Small kindnesses are of great value during a disaster. • Provide shower and hot meal to patient family, responders. • Assigned a patient liaison to waiting rooms. • Leader rounds for staff.

  27. Recovery begins during the response. • Monitor the “New Normal” volume. • Hire more staff! • Reinforce supply chain. • Support the community.

  28. Something will fail. • All Hazards planning approach allows for flexibility. • Creativity / Innovation must be encouraged. • Stamina.

  29. Thank you.

More Related