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EF-5 Tornado St. Johns medical center Joplin, Missouri. Baylor Health Care System Environmental Safety and Emergency Management Baylor Emergency Response Team. Introduction. St. John’s Hospital was directly impacted by an EF-5 Tornado on May 22 nd .
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EF-5 TornadoSt. Johns medical centerJoplin, Missouri Baylor Health Care System Environmental Safety and Emergency Management Baylor Emergency Response Team
Introduction • St. John’s Hospital was directly impacted by an EF-5 Tornado on May 22nd. • Baylor Health Care System sent a Liaison Team from the Baylor Emergency Response Team (BERT) to survey the damage sustained to the hospital and the City of Joplin.
BERT Liaison Team objectives • The Baylor Emergency Response Team was comprised of members from the Environmental Safety and Emergency Management Department as well as Faith In Action which donated numerous supplies to the Joplin area. • The primary goal of the deployment was to capture information particular to the hospital in three primary areas:
BERT Objectives: General preparedness prior to the incident, and the actions leading up to the impact. The immediate actions taken in response to the tornado by the hospital and supporting agencies post impact (0-24 hours). The short term recovery actions taken by the hospital (24-120 hours).
Joplin tornado impact A quick review
EF-5 Tornado Arguably the worst in US history 12 mile path, 1 mile wide Lasting approximately 20 minutes Damaging several major pieces of infrastructure: • Utilities • Wal-Mart • Home Depot • 5 schools
St. Johns Hospital • 80 year old hospital • 9 stories • 186 patients evacuated • 0 hospital employees died
Hospital Preparedness General preparedness prior to the incident, and the actions leading up to the impact.
Hospital Preparedness St. Johns had done exercises and considered themselves ready for most perils. They had the same type of evacuation protocols as Baylor, “Severe weather” to get them ready, then “Code Black/Gray” to move patients. They received support from their corporate office on their preparations. Complacency existed among citizens due to frequent use of sirens.
Initial Response The immediate actions taken in response to the tornado by the hospital and supporting agencies post impact (0-24 hours).
Communication The hospital had initiated their Code Grey plan (BHCS=Code Black). Most patients and visitors complied with the staff requests to move to interior hallways Employees didn’t initially come to the hospital because “surely they would have called us if there was a problem”. Some staff found it very difficult to make it to the hospital due to roads being closed from debris.
Evacuation Two inches of water in the hospital. Staff worried about the hospital safety due to a small fire and natural gas leaks. Staff used doors that were blown off of their hinges to transport patients down the stairs. Hospital was evacuated in 90 minutes. No official call to evacuate – Staff instinctively “knew what to needed to be done”.
Triage and Transport Initial triage unit in the parking lot. Secondary triage had to be set up across street at order of fire department due to gas leak The community still coming for treatment even as they are evacuating. Residents from the surrounding areas just showed up to help and to transport patients. During catastrophic disasters, critical thinking skills and instinctive reactions take over.
Short Term Recovery The short term recovery actions taken by the hospital (24-120 hours).
Hospital Grounds Memorial hall established as temporary ED. Missouri DMAT set up field hospital. Initial difficulty getting FEMA to assist. The community and others came out in force and offered enormous resources to help. The president and Board of Trustees moved quickly to purchase land for modular hospital nearby.
Hospital Administration Convention center used as hospital admin and EOC. Excellent support from Mercy System. Commitment by hospital CEO and leadership to employees (one page add in newspaper). Mercy System assured employees that their pay and benefits would not be interrupted. Agreements with other hospitals to utilize employees.
Lessons Learned Redundant communications • Social media Public relations • To community • To employees More Training • Evacuation drills • Debris management training Identify secondary offsite EOC sites “Flashlights saved lives” Community support and involvement
Reality Check – This could have been us! DFW, like Joplin is on edge of Tornado Alley, 5 EF3 or greater tornados touched down in last 3 years in DFW. There is very little preparation that can truly prepare for this level of destruction. Staff education on reality of such event will save lives as demonstrated at St. Johns. What is Baylor doing to prepare? Working with media relations to update and revise protocols for utilizing radio and other local media to broadcast messages to employees during land line and cell phone outages. Enhancing Code Black process awareness. Ensuring activation protocols are concise and initial alert is timely. Enhancing partnerships at the local, regional and state levels. Working with Emergency Medical Task Force coordinators to operationalize state assets at the local level. Evacuation equipment is being implemented at all BHCS hospitals. Training on the equipment is occurring and full scale exercises are being planned in conjunction with local jurisdictions. Power outage kits including various types of lights, glow sticks and other key items have been distributed. Baylor Emergency Response Team (BERT) and Disaster Training Academy. We have obtained HR and Legal approval for the team to respond to a scenario like Joplin in support of other healthcare organizations if requested.
