COVID-19 brought about unforeseen challenges and solutions,
forever changing the face of emergency readiness. With gritty
determination and endless perseverance, hospitals demonstrated,
day-in and day-out, how valuable they are in keeping communities
safe and healthy.
In 2020, emergency services professionals, community partners and
health care leaders learned from each other like never before.
They took new paths to find solutions, created new protocols,
found light at the end of a long tunnel – moving beyond the
pandemic.
Disasters occur in many forms — the only certainty is that they
will happen.
The Disaster Planning for California Hospitals annual conference
guides hospitals and health systems through the preparation of
these inevitable events, regardless of type. Planning ahead
translates to limited business disruption, personnel safety,
maintained data integrity, and establishes clear roles
and responsibilities during and after disasters.
COVID-19 brought forth so many unprecedented challenges in health
care, and along with it was the worldwide demand for supplies.
PPE was a scarcity with suppliers unable to fulfill the increased
demand. Cottage Health will share some of its strategies that
allowed it to be successful in ensuring PPE for staff across its
three hospitals, laboratory, and urgent care centers. Presenters
will also share ongoing measures still in effect and strategies
currently being implemented to prepare for the future.
Between March 2020 and March 2021, Northern California
experienced three COVID-19 surges, each one sequentially larger
than the last. Each of these surges had the potential to strain
traditional physician staffing, and so a centralized physician
redeployment program was developed across the 21 medical centers
of Kaiser Permanente Northern California to address potential
shortages. The program developed and refined a number of
redeployment strategies, including leveraging the
interconnectedness of physicians within the KP Northern
California health care system. This presentation focuses on the
strategies used to redeploy physicians, as well as the training
and mental health support provided by the program.
UC Davis Health took a very unique approach to Crisis Standards
of Care, perhaps the most difficult topic to plan for in any
setting. What is a hospital supposed to do when there are not
enough resources to go around in a disaster? How do you have
these conversations? Who should be involved? The first answer:
everyone. Consensus is key, and paramount. Please join us to
learn how UCDH convened a group of physicians, bioethicists,
communications specialists, and disaster planners to work through
this incredibly arduous topic.
Right of Boom refers to impacts following a radiological/nuclear
explosion which is in the Medical and Health domain. An
improvised nuclear detonation (IND) is the highest impact
terrorism event. It also has the highest potential for saving
lives, hundreds of thousands of lives. Yet medical and health
preparedness activities rarely address radiological emergencies
and the unique attributes of radiological exposure and
contamination. Hospitals and local jurisdictions that plan for
medical surge of contaminated patients will save thousands of
lives without endangering their workforce or disrupting other
operations.
The CST is an evacuation-based exercise and is one of the
required activities that Healthcare Coalitions (HCCs) must
participate in as members of the Hospital Preparedness Program
(HPP).
Although the CST is an annual requirement, HPP waived this
requirement for the last two years due to COVID. HPP requires
HCCs to conduct the CST exercise this year. The purpose of the
CST exercise is to foster coordination, collaboration, and
communication among HCC partners.
At the suggestion of many partners, including hospitals,
healthcare associations, and HCC members, HPP staff, with the
help of numerous SMEs, revised the CST exercise. This session
provides the opportunity to learn more about the upcoming
revisions, ask questions and receive explanations.
David Csernak, MS, MA
Regional Supervisor (Acting), National Healthcare Preparedness
Programs, Emergency Management & Medical Operations, Assistant
Secretary for Preparedness and Response, U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services
Kevin Sheehan
Captain, U.S. Public Health Service, Office of the Assistant
Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), National Hospital
Preparedness Program (HPP), Region IX
Olugbadero Yerokun
Consultant, Core Business Operations
Deloitte
The need to focus on well-being is paramount to enhancing
resiliency and creating performance excellence during adversity.
This dynamic session encourages attendees to examine elements of
purpose, passion, relationships, and vision that contribute to
well-being at work and in life.
Ms. Johnson will demonstrate how prioritizing well-being
contributes to personal effectiveness, supports teams, and helps
achieve organizational outcomes. She will also help you identify
and operationalize your best self-vision to use as the foundation
for balance and effective decision-making in work and life.
Finally, she will teach you how to develop strategies for
attending to your physical, emotional, and mental energy so you
can show up in alignment with purpose and best serve your
communities and families.
Disasters can be costly; you and your organization can get some
help with the financial impact. This presentation will provide
attendees with a view of coordination efforts, understanding
processes and the integral components to submitting a project to
FEMA for potential financial recovery.
The Joint Commission accredits and certifies over 22,000 health
care organizations and programs in the United States. It is the
nation’s oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting
body in health care. Join us as Field Director James Kending
discusses changes to the Emergency Management survey process,
overviews the review tool and lays out the updated standards and
Elements of Performance (EPs).
The presentation includes lessons learned and best practices
identified through a comprehensive examination of the WRAP-EM
community regional response to the COVID-19 global pandemic. The
presentation will provide information on the impact a supportive
regional community can have on the positive health outcomes of
pediatric patients, their families, health care providers,
communities, and beyond.
Additionally, the presentation focuses on the WRAP-EM survey of
pediatric emergency preparedness experts on telehealth
infrastructure and how telehealth was integrated into existing
pediatric emergency care. In addition to creating several
recommendations for health systems, speakers share the
challenges, what worked and lessons learned during the pandemic
along with a “telehealth legal playbook” that addresses legal and
regulatory barriers to telehealth in pediatric disaster
management.
UC Health Emergency Managers at all five UC Medical Centers were
front and center for COVID-19 response, even before it was a
leading news story. The EMs are often asked questions like: How
did we do this? Did we know this was coming? What are we thinking
about now? What is it that you do here, exactly? They would love
to share their experiences with you. Join us for a panel
presentation with the Emergency Managers from all five University
of California Medical Centers.
For those in the health care industry, the workforce was front in
center in caring for patients during the pandemic. Employers had
to quickly refocus and implement workforce strategies, resources
and programs to address employee safety, and mental, physical,
and financial needs during the pandemic. Sharp HealthCare shares
best practices, programs and resources they developed and
implemented.
Experts from a community hospital and a stand-alone acute care
facility share stories and describe how the continuity of
decedent management is challenged when existing resources are
beyond capacity. Quick planning and coordination with the county
EMD, county coroner’s office, and local overflow mortuaries, and
transportation and storage capacity issues were critical to
staying ahead of reaching critical capacity. At the same time,
facilities had to manage staff suffering from illness and PTSD
due to massive increase of morgue duties. Speakers will
demonstrate how employing solutions assures the community that
the hospital is still a safe place to receive care. Lessons
learned from the presentation will assist health care emergency
management personnel in planning for future decedent surges
within a hospital morgue.
Active shooter events are on the rise, and emergency management
and security officials are increasingly tasked with ways to
effectively and safely train hospital workers on how to respond.
Ms. Walsh will discuss new methodology of how to tackle the
crucial task of training each hospital staff member and
department, based on their unique functions within the hospital,
as well as with their specific locations on any hospital campus.
John Riggi, senior advisor for cybersecurity and risk at the
American Hospital Association, a nationally recognized
cybersecurity expert and former FBI cyber senior executive has
been on the forefront in directly assisting health care providers
as they prepare for, respond to and recover from ransomware
attacks. Mr. Riggi will discuss his uniquely informed national
perspective on the rash of recent ransomware attacks, identify
the groups behind these attacks, how hospitals and health systems
have become victimized, and what can be done to prevent these
attacks.
Mr. Riggi will also discuss the impact these ransomware attacks
have had on large systems and small hospitals — from lost data
and revenue to civil and regulatory exposure, loss of community
confidence and, most significantly, impact to patient care
delivery and risk to patient safety.
Mr. Riggi will also discuss AHA’s national call to action to the
federal government to utilize all elements of national power to
“defend forward” and disrupt these ransomware attackers who are
being provided safe harbor in adversarial nations. The government
has heard the call and responded.
The Internet of Things (IoT) applications are growing rapidly
with more healthcare organizations adopting the use of security
cameras, drones, internet connected HVAC, and more. However, not
all devices are designed with security in mind. Data breaches in
the news are increasing in frequency. Do you know if your devices
are protected and how you can protect your IoT data?
