[ETSList] + When Hospital Communications Fail + When Hospital Communications Fail When Hospital Communications Fail

[Drew Moore]

.


+ When Hospital Communications Fail

[The famous Orange County (California) Hospital Disaster Support
Communications System (HDSCS) was nominated for the ARRL
International Humanitarian Award in 2001 and subsequently won a
National Certificate of Merit from the ARRL Board of Directors for
its work in providing back-up communications to a vast number of
hospitals in the area. - ed.] 

HDSCS communicators were requested by St. Jude Medical Center on the
night of July 27 for an "emergency standby" while phone technicians
tried to troubleshoot problems with the new phone system. The timing
was not good with many HDSCS communicators set to participate early
the next morning in a terrorism drill in Anaheim. But true to our
mission, we supported the request. 
 
The standby was set for 9 PM to midnight but as many of these events
go, midnight came and went. Our coverage continued in hospital key
areas and the shadowing of the administrative nurse. 

At 8:30AM and during the next five hours HDSCS communicators were
activated to the participating hospitals, including St. Jude, to
provide backup communications related to the scenario of a sarin gas
terrorist attack at the Anaheim Convention Center. In the
midafternoon, after all 21 communicators had secured and were
recharging batteries, the disaster/safety coordinator from St. Jude
once again contacted HDSCS to request standby communications for that
night. The work was scheduled for 9 PM to midnight.  

Another three-hour event not only went past midnight, but during the
phone work a major alarm failure occurred.  Not only were phones down
but the hospital's various back-up systems failed also. Good thing we
were there BEFORE ALL ELSE FAILED. Critical tactical communications
were handled between the emergency department and other units during
that time. By 6AM on Friday, July 29, HDSCS communicators could
finally secure.  

I share this event to point out the value and importance of the
following: being integrated into hospital disaster plans, and having
activation plans so hospitals can contact Amateur Radio teams
directly. Have portability and flexibility; we used no installed
equipment. And have depth in your group: We were stretched throughout
the event and we have a pretty big group from which we can draw. --
April Moell, WA6OPS, Emergency Coordinator, Hospital Disaster Support
Communications System, Orange County, California <emcom4hosp at aol.com>
and <http://www.hdscs.org>