The California Department of Public Health (CDPHi) manages the
California Health Alert Network (CAHAN), which is designated as
the official health emergency alerting system.
CAHAN is a secure notification system that facilitates
collaboration, emergency planning, and communications for
hospitals and healthcare providers, federal, state, local health
departments, and other public health emergency partners.
The public information officer (PIO) is a vital part of the
incident command team, charged with delivering accurate
information to the right people at the right time. This session
will review the role of the PIO and present attendees with
strategies for utilizing social media for emergency
communications.
Presenter:
Valerie Lakey, Executive Director,
Mayers Memorial Hospital District
In 2014, a Hospital Emergency Code Survey was conducted by the
California Hospital Association (CHA). This survey was conducted
in follow up to a similar survey completed in 2011.
The 2014 report incorporates data from the previous surveys, and
the findings reveal sustained progress in hospital emergency code
implementation among California health care facilities.
Amateur Radio is a backup communication resource that can help
hospitals in large and small disasters. Keeping hospitals
connected in earthquakes, firestorms, flooding, terrorist events,
power failures, local telephone system outages, switch gear
failures, etc.
This “Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication Tool Kit” provides
detailed resource materials to assist in effectively managing and
communicating during an emergency or crisis. The Tool Kit
is specifically designed to support writing and implementing a
crisis communication plan. A crisis communication plan
clearly defines your goals, objectives and actions. It
provides specific guidelines and instructions for communicating
during emergencies.
Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS)
and Wireless Priority Service (WPS) substantially benefits
hospitals by expediting communications service restoration
after a disruption (with and without a declared
disaster.)
GETS provides emergency access and priority processing in the
local and long distance segments of the Public Switched Network
(PSN). Federal, state, and local government, industry, and
non-profit organization personnel that perform emergency
preparedness can apply for and receive the GETS card and access
code.
Wireless Priority Service (WPS) improves connections for a
limited number of authorized emergency preparedness cell phone
users. In the event of congestion in the wireless network, an
emergency call using WPS will be placed in a queue for the next
available channel.
Consistent with the blanket waiver request submitted by the
American Hospital Association (AHA), the Federal Communication
Commission has adopted an order which permits the use of HAM
radios during hospital disaster drills. The Commission determined
that amateur radio operators play a critical role during
disasters and that amateur radio operators should be permitted to
participate in disaster drills regardless of whether they are
employed by the entity conducting the drill.
The blanket waiver request was filed by AHA in response to The
Joint Commission’s requirement that hospitals prepare an
emergency operations plan specifying alternative forms of
communication to use during emergencies and establishing back-up
communications links, including amateur radio stations, if
primary communications systems fail.
Due to the adoption of the FCC order, the Commission dismissed
AHA’s blanket waiver as moot.
