Submitted by Summit Pacific Medical Center
During the month of September, many staff members at Summit Pacific Medical Center took part in various drills to ready them for various disasters as part of National Preparedness Month. The weekly focused themes included how to prepare for flooding, wildfires and power outages. SPMC also took the opportunity to practice how they would react to a chemical spill.
As part of the preparation, SPMC inventoried their Disaster Preparedness Trailer. Part of that inventory includes a decontamination tent, which was set up for staff to tour and discuss what they would do in the event of a chemical spill. The decontamination tent would be available for the community to use as they enter the hospital. People would be expected to enter through one end of the tent, undress, shower and exit in a hospital gown or other clothing before exiting the tent. People needing help through the process could slide through the middle section of the tent on a gurney and would receive assistance with the decontamination process.
SPMC is also working toward being able to transport the tent to offsite locations when necessary. The tent has its own water heater as well as heaters in place to keep warm for those inside. The contaminated waste water would be collected with included barrels, although if more collection space was needed, SPMC could drain the waste water into a self-contained pond near the SPMC Emergency Department entrance. The remaining waste water would then be suctioned out later without contaminating the environment.
On September 16, staff met for a tabletop drill which included a discussion on how to prepare for a major earthquake with subsequent power outage. During a tabletop drill, which was done in conjunction with the Elma Police Chief and the Grays Harbor County Building Inspector, areas of improvement were addressed and staff members were tasked with ways to improve the plan.
Don’t wait to make your own emergency plan. SPMC encourages you to visit the website http://www.ready.gov/, which has a lot of information on how to make an emergency plan for your own community, workplace, home and pets based on your risk factors and the disasters that could occur in your area.
