Bracing for disaster: Hospital prepares for possible emergencies
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To help accomplish that goal, River Park, along with other facilities in the region, held a disaster drill Wednesday to prepare for possible future emergencies ? particularly concerning attacks utilizing toxic chemicals or biological agents.
A ?code yellow? was called, which is the universal disaster code, and the hospital treated the incident as if it was an actual disaster. The simulated agent used for the event was anthrax, and officials made it clear how important it would be for River Park to remain uncontaminated if such a disaster should really occur.
?The hospital would be of no consequence if it was contaminated,? said Rick Osborne, director of plant operations.
River Park has been stockpiling equipment to handle these types of disasters and one of the goals was to put the equipment to use in as close to a real-time situation as possible.
?It was a large and very important event for our hospital,? said Rob Wheeler of River Park, ?ensuring that we will be well prepared to provide the needed care for our community in the case of a disaster.?
Only hospital and medical facilities were included in this particular event, according to Wheeler, who said River Park has had the equipment for some time, and the training to use it, but it had not actually been tried here, or in hospitals in many of the other counties involved.
?This was really an event to make sure that everybody?s systems are in place and are working properly to make sure that in case of a major emergency that we?re able to handle it,? said Wheeler. ?We felt confident as a facility that we could, but we also welcome an event like this to demonstrate that our people are prepared and everything is working properly.?
Osborne was in charge of the simulation, which was part of a state initiative, and much of the equipment was obtained through the state.
One of those items was a big yellow tent, which Osborne said cost around $25,000, which was a very visible aspect of the event. Osborne explained the procedure that would be used during an actual disaster.
?What happens at River Park is this,? Osborne said. ?If there?s a biological or chemical agent in the area the facility would lock down, and the reason we would lock down is that we don?t want to contaminate the facility.
?The tent would be set up,? Osborne continued, ?and it has water supplied to it. We have a decontamination team and they suit up in what is called personal protective equipment, or PPE. They look a bit like space suits, so they?re totally protected, no matter what the agent is.?
When patients arrive they have to go through decontamination, which requires they remove all their clothing.
?Around 85 percent of any contamination is in the clothes,? Osborne said. ?The clothes, jewelry and any other items are considered bio-hazards. So you have to remove and keep track of those.?
Patients are then moved through a cleansing process using soap and water, then they move through a rinsing process and are given uncontaminated clothing, similar to hospital attire, and can then be moved into the facility.
By all accounts, the event was a success and demonstrated the effectiveness of the equipment in such situations.
Though patients may have been a bit surprised by all the activity, Wheeler said the hospital had its patients in mind the entire time.
?One of the things we want to emphasize is that we made sure patients in River Park were not inconvenienced because of the event,? Wheeler said.