Nursing Homes Detail Evac Process

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I found this video to be interesting.

Tags: Ambulance, Communications, disaster, Disaster Management Solutions, Disaster Response Team, DMS, Drills, evacuation, evacuees, Gustav, Hannah, hurricane, Ike, Incident Communication Solutions, LaserBand, Louisiana, Memphis, New Orleans, Packing, Paramedic, patient, Planning, readiness, response, Team, Tennessee

Why on Earth is Patient Tracking Important, you ask?

 

Because for every injured person, there is someone who cares. A family, a friend, a coworker, a parent, an aunt, a daughter, a Pastor, a teacher, a neighbor, a spouse.

After attending NIMS ICS 100-400 this spring, I found myself wondering why there was no Patient Tracking Officer in the fancy Organizational chart they had…

It occured to me also that the number one person that is asking me for information usually is not the IC, but the PIO, otherwise known as the Public Information Officer. Oh, once in a while an IC will want to know the details of the reds, yellows, and greens. But at the heart of the matter is the patients themselves, and their family members, who seem to show up far quicker than they could have during regular times. And as these families clamor around, seeking answers, will you be able to provide them?

I found some videos today while I was preparing a new training program I am writing that I thought I should share, I will post them here.

Tags: Ambulance, Communications, disaster, Disaster Management Solutions, Disaster Response Team, DMS, Drills, evacuation, evacuees, Gustav, Hannah, hurricane, Ike, Incident Communication Solutions, LaserBand, Louisiana, Memphis, New Orleans, Packing, Paramedic, patient, Planning, readiness, response, Team, Tennessee

For your FYI

My daughter went through a period where she would say this phrase at the beginning of every sentence. It was very cute and has now caught on in our house as a kind of “catch phrase” as well as an inside joke.

I tend to use it at work a lot to disarm people when they are getting too serious, and luckily, that hasn’t been the case with this deployment.  I do want to take a little time to make a few observations though about Gustav and the ensuing calamity that has occured now that there have been over 10,000 patients moved within a week period, thousands of evacuees moved all over the country, and multiple services, both volunteer, paid, FEMA funded or other that have entered, left, reentered a small and challenging part of our country, or received these people into their communities.

I personally saw at least four different tracking systems being used. All were redundant at least somewhat in nature.

Many EMA officials had no idea what the other tracking systems were, how to access them, or how to share data with them.

Several agencies with their own internal registration and tracking policies refused to work with other agencies, creating a large gap in communication and the ability to information-share among trusted networks. (and I’m referring to PEOPLE networks, not Computer ones).

I think that proper education and training are the keys to ensuring that things go more smoothly next time, and that hopefully, as we continue to learn and grow, so will the systems we use and develop to help us care for those in need more succinctly.

Tags: Ambulance, Communications, disaster, Disaster Management Solutions, Disaster Response Team, DMS, Drills, evacuation, evacuees, Gustav, Hannah, hurricane, Ike, Incident Communication Solutions, LaserBand, Louisiana, Memphis, New Orleans, Packing, Paramedic, patient, Planning, readiness, response, Team, Tennessee

Back to Louisiana

Here I was, thinking I was getting to go home.  I am headed back down to Louisiana, this time with the ProMed Ambulance crews, one of the finest bunch of people I have gotten to meet in the EMS business, and certainly the hardest working.  Our tech department back home was monitoring all of our servers this week and commented on the lack of downtime these crews were taking for themselves, instead working to get the critical patients to safety as quickly as possible.  LSU certainly is lucky to have them along with the crews from numerous other companies.  I only got to meet a few of them, but those I did I will name here-

ASAP Ambulance, from Mississippi, Eagle, I am pretty sure they are from Memphis, LifeCare, LifeTeam, and of course, ProMed, who sent trucks from Knoxville (another place close to our hearts here at DMS), Nashville area, and Memphis.

We will caravan down (I will get left in the dust as I drive like a grandmother these days…) and set up shop wherever we can find accomodations for the crews. It’s going to be tough.

Tags: Ambulance, ASAP Ambulance, Communications, disaster, Disaster Management Solutions, Disaster Response Team, DMS, Drills, evacuation, evacuees, Gustav, Hannah, hurricane, Ike, Incident Communication Solutions, LaserBand, Louisiana, Memphis, New Orleans, Packing, Paramedic, patient, Planning, ProMed, readiness, response, Team, Tennessee