DEHS fall retreat - Connie Weston - Emergency Preparedness for the Medical Lab

Connie Weston talking with Brian Vetter

Connie Weston provided an informative talk on Metro Area Emergency Preparedness for the Medical Lab.

First a handy guide to acronyms:

• ACS - Alternate Care Sites
• C-FLOP - Command, Finance, Logistics, Operations, Planning - IC command structure
• BHPP - Bioterrorism Hospital Preparedness Program
• CERT - Civilian Emergency Response Team
• MHMPC - Metro Health Medical Preparadness Coalition
• MN Responds - Minnesota Medical Reserve Corps 
• MNTrac - Minnesota system for Tracking Resources, Alerts and Communication
• MMT - Mobile Medical Team
• MMU - Mobile Medical Unit
• RHRC - Regional Hospital Resource Center
• TOT - Technical Operations Team

Lessons learned from setting up a 1,200 bed ACS site in 2011 at River Center:

• Arm badges don't work well.  They are not visible.  They slide down the arms.  Vests or lanyards work better.
• When setting up a cot secure the latch back or someone may fall out of it.
• Triage areas can be a bottleneck and must be designed to get people processed promptly.
• Communication can be difficult- The battery strength on two way radios will decay over time.  The use time on the battery dropped to less than 1/2 hour.  They resorted to megaphones and then yelling when the batteries on the megaphones died. 
• Need personnel who are focused on problem solving and not focused on the sky is falling.  
• Before moving supplies in a mobile lab unit make sure items are latched and secured properly. 
• Developing a good system for keeping track of people when they are sent off site for treatment is critical. 
• Need security for pharmacy.

Resources:

They have buses available to transport patients either in a seated position or a horizontal position.

There is a mobile 8 bead emergency room available on 48 hour notice.  It must be placed in a parking lot or other flat surface area as it needs to be stable.  The semi is driven 150 miles a month and maintained by a local technical school. 

Minnesota is a leader in taking care of companion animals.  

The central Minnesota response team has had recent experience responding to large flood events and was a valuable resource for responders in other parts of the state.