September 1, 2017
Marshall Medical Centers tested its own ability to evacuate patients in an emergency this week, complicated by the fact that all generators in the area had been shipped to Texas for hurricane relief.
The fictional emergency had Marshall Medical North sweltering on generator power for three days after the failure of “Scant City Electrical” power grids. The hospital was operating on 20 percent of its air conditioning capacity. High temperatures and humidity were making patients and staff very uncomfortable, as well as halting surgeries.
“If it’s 90-something degrees and 100 percent humidity outside, the walls are going to start dripping within four to five hours,” said Bill Smith, facilities manager for Marshall North. “It’s a very real possibility.”
A Code Triage drill pulled together a roomful of decision-makers at North and their counterparts at Marshall South, who were connected by webcam. The employees together with the help of EMA Director Anita McBurnett and reps from the State Department of Public Health Center for Emergency Preparedness Area 2 figured out how they would evacuate patients at North to South.
Planning included:
* Transportation, including school buses, small buses and ambulances
* Determining which patients are ambulatory, in wheelchairs and bedbound
* Patient escorts including staff and law enforcement
* Sufficient oxygen tanks
* Water to send with patients
* A receiving area at South staffed by an admitting nurse matching up information on patients’ bracelets with a list sent ahead
* Where to send patients from the Behavioral Health Unit, who must be in a secure facility
Transportation and beds were found for every patient, including BHU patients who would be accompanied by law enforcement officers to a secure place in Cullman.
The hospital’s public information officer was posted in the EMA office where news updates could be shared with media outlets. Once empty, the hospital’s doors were locked.
The drill was determined to be a success.
“We did everything except physically move people,” said Audra Ford, director of the emergency department at Marshall North, who oversees at least two drills a year.