How hospitals plan for hurricanes & other disasters
By Admin | September 20, 2017
With the recent storms hitting Florida and Texas, hospitals in those areas have done their best to remain open in order to help people heal. But just like houses and other businesses, hospitals also suffer damage, lose electricity, and face the many other problems the rest of the community does.
So how do hospitals prepare for huge storms, like hurricanes?
Hospitals have emergency plans in place prepared by the director and a team who coordinates with weather professionals, first responders, and patients and their families. This team decides who goes and who stays, if circumstances look like that would be a necessity. They get patients transferred, like newborn babies, to safer locations, for example.
Doctors and nurses are designated as A and B teams in order to allocate resources. A team would remain at the hospital as events unfold, while B team would either be there but not working yet, in order to relieve the A team later, or close by.
Hospitals must plan to remain self sufficient, which means backup power supplies for air conditioning and life saving devices, food, and medicine.
For more details about how hospitals prepare for the worst, read “Hospitals Use Their Own Emergency Plans in a Hurricane” by US News and World Report.
