Oct 4, 2023 | Disaster Planning for
California Hospitals
Overview:
California Initiated Public Safety Power Shutoffs to minimize the
risk of wildfires triggered by power lines, forcing hospitals to
rely on emergency power. Learn how hospital generator failures
led the LA County Healthcare Coalition to launch an initiative to
identify emergency power vulnerabilities and develop innovative
solutions to close gaps. It culminated with the publication of
the Healthcare Facility Emergency Power Resilience Playbook.
Attendees will learn to use the Playbook to bolster hospital
emergency power resilience in their jurisdictions.
Oct 3, 2023 | Disaster Planning for
California Hospitals
Overview:
Describe PG&E’s overall Incident Command Structure (ICS)
during event activations, the power outage restoration process,
and will provide real-life examples of emergency events that
impacted hospitals. The presentation includes an overview
of the process to coordinate response safely and efficiently to
an emergency event affecting gas or electrical system from
planning, activation, assessment, restoration, and deactivation.
Developed by ASPR TRACIE, this suite of tip sheets was developed
to assist health care facility managers and emergency planners to
identify issues and considerations when planning for and
responding to various types of utility failures.
Utility failures are a major concern for health care with the
potential for causing substantial harm to patients, staff, and
facilities. Utility failures can have cascading effects, and more
than one utility may fail simultaneously or sequentially.
The tip sheets provide planning and response considerations for
the following types of utility failures:
This tool highlights some of the impacts of a water interruption
and poses questions to ask to help you prepare for an
interruption. Additionally, it provides some information on
existing resources that can help you develop and implement your
preparedness strategy, including information related to the Joint
Commission Emergency Management Standards for hospitals to have a
plan to respond to a 96-hour disruption of service for all
utilities, including water and wastewater services.
The attached Guidelines for Developing Best Practices to Assist
California Hospitals in Preparing for and Responding to a Water
Disruption may be used for any hospital water disruption planning
activities.
These guidelines were drafted under the CHA Hospital Preparedness
Program with participation from a work group which was comprised
of hospital representatives and state regulatory agencies.
The guidelines address:
Overview of a hospital water disruption
The hospital water supply planning team
Conducting a water use audit
Role of California Regulatory Agencies in a water disruption
Water disruption standards and regulations
Coordinating with the community response to a water
disruption
The guidelines contain links to federal and state references and
include six attachments which provide additional information and
check lists to assist hospitals with water disruption planning
and response.
In order to maintain daily operations and patient care services,
health care facilities need to develop an Emergency Water Supply
Plan (EWSP) to prepare for, respond to, and recover from a total
or partial interruption of the facilities’ normal water supply.
Water supply interruption can be caused by several types of
events such as natural disaster, a failure of the community water
system, construction damage or even an act of terrorism. Because
water supplies can and do fail, it is imperative to understand
and address how patient safety, quality of care, and the
operations of your facility will be impacted.
A health care facility must be able to respond to and recover
from a water supply interruption. A robust EWSP can provide a
road map for response and recovery by providing the guidance to
assess water usage, response capabilities, and water
alternatives.
