by
John R. Fischer, Senior Reporter | November 06, 2017
From the November 2017 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
“Ten to 15 years ago, we probably would have had 40 to 50 units deployed,” he told HCB News. “Now, probably a couple dozen have been deployed in all.”
While many hospitals that were shut down during and after the storms have since reopened and are back to treating patients for everyday problems, hurricane-related injuries have created a new demographic in their patient populations, especially as survivor recovery efforts are still underway.
What to do next time
Although the impacts of hurricanes Harvey and Irma – and especially Maria, which destroyed much of Puerto Rico’s infrastructure – are still being realized, they have caused hospitals, service providers and mobile imaging companies to ask important questions about their disaster preparation policies and consider changes that will help them withstand future storms more efficiently.
“Daily roll calls are critical, and you need to know where the team is and who needs immediate help,” Jeff Grimsley, a field team engineer leader for GE Healthcare in Texas, told HCB News. “Encourage the team to prepare for a minimum of one week without power, food, water or fuel.”
For Posern with St. Joseph, MR exams were not possible during Harvey for a number of reasons, including safety concerns and the technologist was unavailable. Lacking that diagnostic tool put the facility at a unique disadvantage.
“We had some different trauma issues as a result of the storm,” she says. “People had some pathology or things that MR would have been helpful for at that time to speed up the process for getting treatment.”
Looking back, she would have put more staff members in place to help relieve doctors and nurses faster and for longer periods of time.
While everyone agrees that limitations will always exist in what can be done to mitigate the damage of a hurricane, advanced planning and good communication are the cornerstones of a winning strategy.
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