THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBING
Gov CIO Outlook Weekly Brief
Be first to read the latest tech news, Industry Leader's Insights, and CIO interviews of medium and large enterprises exclusively from Gov CIO Outlook
Paul Sarnese, CHPA, CAPM, MSE, MAS Assistant Vice President of Safety, Security and Emergency Management, Virtua HealthIndividually, we know that the healthcare industry isvery unique in the sense that when bad things happen - you often end up in the hospital, urgent care or in your physician’s office.
What happens when bad things happen on a large scale? Are we prepared for mass casualty incidents such as: active shooters, bus, plane or train accidents, infectious disease outbreaks and other events that require large numbers of victims to receive care and treatment at our healthcare facilities?
Organizations that provide emergency services must be prepared to handle these types of events in a safe and effective way. Staff must understand their roles and responsibilities and how they fit into the overall response plan. This is critical for the success of the operation. The only way that healthcare facilities can be properly resourced and prepared for these events is by having senior management support and commitment to develop and manage the emergency management program.
We are blessed to work for an organization that understands the importance of emergency management. Before 9/11, we were fortunate to have that commitment and we were able to create a full time position for our Emergency Management Coordinator. I cannot think of too many healthcare organizations in our geographical area that had this dedicated resource prior 9/11. We realize that every healthcare facility does not need or have the resources to have a full time Emergency Management Coordinator. However, the need still exists for someone or some team to own and operate the emergency management program. The ownership of the program truly falls into the hands of the senior leaders of the organization. They are ultimately responsible to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations. They must ensure that their facilities are prepared to receive victims and casualties and provide services to those in need. The most common approach to managing the emergency management program is to form a team or committee to ensure that the facility can identify risks, attempt to mitigate and be prepared to respond and to recover from the event.
Funding the program can certainly be a challenge. Many organizations must decide between spending capital dollars on a high acuity ventilator or on a decontamination tent. The ventilator is certainly going to be prioritized for purchasing, as it should. Therefore, when dollars are scarce, how can you appropriately fund the program?
Grants and Healthcare Coalitions
Investing time and energy into applying for grants is worth the potential reward of funding needed resources to support your program. While there is limited availability to obtain direct grant funding for emergency preparedness, opportunities do still exist.
Phyllis Worrell, Emergency Management coordinator, Virtua HealthDesignate someone to research available grants to fund the program. If a healthcare coalition has been established in your region, make sure that you are an active participant. Federal ASPR Hospital Preparedness Program funding is now being directed to the coalitions. If you have identified gaps, especially if those gaps are vital to promote regional hospital surge, work with the coalitions to ensure that everyone is up to minimum standards should an event occur. Ensuring that our first line of defense in a large-scale event is prepared is vital.
If there is no active coalition in your area, collaborate with surrounding healthcare facilities, public health, local first responders, county and state Offices of Emergency Management and apply for the grant as a regional response team.
Being an active participant in these collaborations is key. Meeting face-to-face, identifying gaps, developing and exercising plans involving all the partners is important. Having the ability to mobilize resources where they are needed is the goal. Agreeing to standardize products across a region, or cross training on other facilities equipment and resources creates continuity for staff who may work at multiple facilities or may be re-assigned during a large-scale event.
Public Private Partnerships (P3)
When the spit hits the fan, we all need people and resources to keep each other safe and provide needed healthcare services to those impacted by the event. A public private partnership is the collaboration of public safety agencies and the private business in the community. Businesses like healthcare facilities, big box as well as home improvement stores, towing companies, caterers, and public utilities all need to be included. The establishment of a local P3 can provide the right connections to information and resources. The P3 allows the participating organizations to share contact information, to develop mutually beneficial relationships, to provide a lists of available resources in the area, and to provide the necessary expertise and information that is needed in an emergency. By developing partnerships with the local private sector, public safety agencies can also ensure that community businesses have planned for disasters, which keeps them in operation and supports the local economy to recover from an event.
Incident Support Team
Identifying an incident support team from within the facility or in the community can ensure that the right people respond to events and that they have the right skills and experience to support the organizations response and recovery efforts. An experienced emergency manager can help to identify the proper mix for the team and ensure that everyone has been trained and exercised in the incident command system (ICS). Understanding and utilizing ICS ensures integration into the command structure with outside public response agencies, or other healthcare facilities. Minimum training levels should be established, and those who would have to fill the Incident Command role, especially in a large, prolonged event, should obviously have additional levels of training and experience.
Survey Employees
To identify existing employees that can support the emergency management program as well as an incident response team concept, conduct of a survey of the employees to identify those that may already be involved in emergency response, especially on a large scale. Traditional first responders such as fire, EMS and law enforcement may already be well versed in this type of response from an operational, boots on the ground perspective. Disaster response workers, such as Red Cross, CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams), MRC (Medical Reserve Corp), Salvation Army and others, may also have many of the desired experience and training. Having the ability to tap into this resource is invaluable, especially if they are working in other capacities for you and don’t have direct response responsibilities for an event. Having the flexibility in your emergency management program to utilize these (previously unidentified) resources in your facility may be a game changer when it comes to setting up and staffing an incident response team in your facility.
Read Also
