Bonner General 'earthquake' testing emergency readiness
The staff at Bonner General Hospital will be testing its emergency preparedness skills tomorrow during a simulated earthquake.
The exercise is part of an ASPR Hospital Preparedness contract requirement designed to demonstrate the ability of BGH and other area hospitals to manage the evacuation and transportation of patients to other healthcare facilities following a natural disaster.
Under the scenario, a 6.3 magnitude earthquake will occur 46 miles northwest of Sandpoint, resulting in extensive damage that requires Bonner General Hospital to evacuate all of its patients.
BGH will evacuate about 20 simulated patients to area hospitals participating in the exercise, including Benewah Community Hospital, Boundary Community Hospital, Kootenai Medical Center, Northern Idaho Advanced Care Hospital, Northwest Specialty Hospital and Shoshone Medical Center.
Bonner County EMS and local fire districts will conduct the simulated transport of the patients, and Bonner County 911 dispatch will coordinate the transport services.
The exercise will enable Bonner General Hospital to demonstrate its ability to triage patients for transfer to other facilities, and to identify other area hospitals or healthcare facilities that can accept the patients based upon those hospitals’ space availability and patient care capabilities.
The exercise will also test the hospital’s ability to accurately track where each of the patients is transferred in order to aid family members searching for their loved ones.
Following the exercise, all of the participants will participate in a debriefing to assess what went well and what can be improved.
Although the “patients” used for the drill will exist on paper only and will not be physically transported to other hospitals, these types of simulated emergencies provide BGH with an excellent opportunity to work with emergency response agencies and other area hospitals to ensure a coordinated response is in place if a real disaster occurs.
Bonner General Hospital conducts two emergency preparedness drills each year as part of its accreditation requirements for the Joint Commission Accreditation of Hospital Organizations, in addition to exercises required to meet emergency preparedness funding requirements.
Previous drills have involved scenarios such as treating mock Anthrax patients, transporting patients to safety during a tornado warning, and securing medical supplies from appropriate agencies following a terrorist attack.
? Lynda Metz is the director of community development at Bonner General Hospital.