Emergency Planning
Something that fascinates me is the great detail and planning involved in preparing health organizations for natural disasters. Here in New England, we just suffered from a massive storm that put much of the region out of power for days. My own family is from Southern Maine and is still out of power. They don't expect to get it back until Saturday sometime. If this was a hospital, that would be an awful long time to be out of power. While no hospital or health care facility wants to lose power, it's inevitable that it will happen at one time or another and each facility must be prepared.
After talking to Mark Fournier, VP of Facilities Asset Management at Southern Maine Medical, he informed our entire management class on what it means to be prepared for any disaster. As VP of Facilities, it means he's in charge of the 30+ facilities that Southern Maine Medical is associated with and with that entails having customized disaster plans for each. One thing that really stood out to me was the use of generators to power the hospital. Mr. Fournier described how the state sets forth a very vague set of rules stating that "only things necessary in an emergency are required to have power." This implies that place like the ICU and the OR will require power, but ultimately, the rest of the hospital (in non-emergency settings) will only be required to have as much lighting to safely allow patients and staff to navigate through the hospital. Although these are the only regulations set forth by the state that health care facilities have to follow, Mr. Fournier knew his hospital could do better. During a building renovation, instead of just having one generator to power parts of the building, he requested another be purchased so that the hospital can be fully powered during outages. Now, when the power goes out as it did this past week, the hospital and its residents don't even realize the change.
In order to keep things running smoothly in a disaster, much more planning is involved rather than simply buying another generator. Mr. Fournier stresses the importance of planning ahead and building relationships with people/companies so that when you need their help, they can put a face with the request. With the recent storm he describes how one of the nursing home facilities he runs was out of power and the residents needed to be relocated. It would have not been possible to move the eight residents on the second floor (who could not get down stairs due to the lack of power to the elevator) if it wasn't for the EMTs who Mr. Fournier had built a relationship with many years prior to this event. With this relationship between the two, he was able to have as many ambulances as he could be brought over to the nursing home in order to help move these people safely down the stairs. Another example of preparedness is the relationship he made with Irving Oil so that when a storm is coming, he can have a friend of his (an Irving employee) leave their fuel truck at the hospital before the storm hits, so that they will have enough fuel to power the generators. By dropping the truck off early, it ensures that the truck is actually able to get to the facility (during a storm roads get shut down etc.) and that they will have enough fuel to power the hospital through the storm. None of this would have been possible if it weren't for his proactive thinking and his professional relationships.
The National Academies Press describes how not only building relationships to help in emergency preparedness is crucial, but also the communication between these parties (i.e. hospitals, EMTs, police, firefighters, and other emergency personnel) is so important. In order to remain efficient during emergencies, it's important that the lines of communication remain open and constant between each. Without it, many errors can occur, some life altering. These facilities get crowded and busy when disaster strikes and if clear communication means getting a patient to the next nearest hospital because the closest one is overcrowded, it helps provide better quality and quicker access to care.
Anyone who is in a position like Mr. Fournier, has a very stressful job. A lot weighs on their shoulders and there are many tough calls to make. He described how over time, you just begin to get a knack for these kind of situations and things fall into place and are improved with each experience. While a very tough job, it sounds to be very rewarding when things run smoothly. As people of the community who utilize these services, their hard work does not go unappreciated.
Hospital-Based Emergency Care: At the Breaking Point. (n.d.). Retrieved November 02, 2017, from https://www.nap.edu/read/11621/chapter/9
After talking to Mark Fournier, VP of Facilities Asset Management at Southern Maine Medical, he informed our entire management class on what it means to be prepared for any disaster. As VP of Facilities, it means he's in charge of the 30+ facilities that Southern Maine Medical is associated with and with that entails having customized disaster plans for each. One thing that really stood out to me was the use of generators to power the hospital. Mr. Fournier described how the state sets forth a very vague set of rules stating that "only things necessary in an emergency are required to have power." This implies that place like the ICU and the OR will require power, but ultimately, the rest of the hospital (in non-emergency settings) will only be required to have as much lighting to safely allow patients and staff to navigate through the hospital. Although these are the only regulations set forth by the state that health care facilities have to follow, Mr. Fournier knew his hospital could do better. During a building renovation, instead of just having one generator to power parts of the building, he requested another be purchased so that the hospital can be fully powered during outages. Now, when the power goes out as it did this past week, the hospital and its residents don't even realize the change.
In order to keep things running smoothly in a disaster, much more planning is involved rather than simply buying another generator. Mr. Fournier stresses the importance of planning ahead and building relationships with people/companies so that when you need their help, they can put a face with the request. With the recent storm he describes how one of the nursing home facilities he runs was out of power and the residents needed to be relocated. It would have not been possible to move the eight residents on the second floor (who could not get down stairs due to the lack of power to the elevator) if it wasn't for the EMTs who Mr. Fournier had built a relationship with many years prior to this event. With this relationship between the two, he was able to have as many ambulances as he could be brought over to the nursing home in order to help move these people safely down the stairs. Another example of preparedness is the relationship he made with Irving Oil so that when a storm is coming, he can have a friend of his (an Irving employee) leave their fuel truck at the hospital before the storm hits, so that they will have enough fuel to power the generators. By dropping the truck off early, it ensures that the truck is actually able to get to the facility (during a storm roads get shut down etc.) and that they will have enough fuel to power the hospital through the storm. None of this would have been possible if it weren't for his proactive thinking and his professional relationships.
The National Academies Press describes how not only building relationships to help in emergency preparedness is crucial, but also the communication between these parties (i.e. hospitals, EMTs, police, firefighters, and other emergency personnel) is so important. In order to remain efficient during emergencies, it's important that the lines of communication remain open and constant between each. Without it, many errors can occur, some life altering. These facilities get crowded and busy when disaster strikes and if clear communication means getting a patient to the next nearest hospital because the closest one is overcrowded, it helps provide better quality and quicker access to care.
Anyone who is in a position like Mr. Fournier, has a very stressful job. A lot weighs on their shoulders and there are many tough calls to make. He described how over time, you just begin to get a knack for these kind of situations and things fall into place and are improved with each experience. While a very tough job, it sounds to be very rewarding when things run smoothly. As people of the community who utilize these services, their hard work does not go unappreciated.
Hospital-Based Emergency Care: At the Breaking Point. (n.d.). Retrieved November 02, 2017, from https://www.nap.edu/read/11621/chapter/9
Great post! Interesting article - nice job integrating!
ReplyDeleteWe lost power at WDH in this storm, too. It wasn't fun, but we made it work. Healthcare never stops, cancer never stops. So the cancer center had to remain open and functioning. Generators can only do so much. I love these high stress, emergent situations. Mr. Fournier has a point, you just kind of learn how to handle them and they become second nature. The key? Staying calm.
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