Nearby hospital accepted patients after evacuation
Nearby hospital accepted patients after evacuation
After an F3 tornado severely damaged Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus, GA, and led to an evacuation of all patients, Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany, GA, was designated as one of the accepting hospitals. During the evacuation, Phoebe Putney accepted 45 patients, which included inpatients and emergency patients from Sumter Regional.
When Sumter Regional announced the evacuation, Phoebe Putney implemented its disaster plan, according to Todd Braswell, RN, BSN, MS, CEN, director of the Emergency Center at Phoebe Putney. "We began looking at our census to determine who could be transferred and what beds were available," he says. A few patients were discharged from the ED, he says. Inpatient areas were asked to perform an assessment and determine what staff could assist in the ED.
From the time Phoebe Putney was notified, it was two hours before the first patient arrived from Americus, which is about 60 minutes away. Sumter Regional notified Phoebe Putney of what type of patients were being sent. EMS brought patients who were on stretchers through the ED, but they didn't stop, Braswell says. "We had a ready bed waiting for every inpatient transfer," he says. "It made tending to emergencies easier."
A bus brought a large group of ambulatory patients, he says. They were triaged in the EMS dock intake area, Braswell says. "We would route them to the appropriate areas: inpatient, ER, or the admit/discharge unit [ADU] for the walking wounded," he says. Normally, the ADU functions Monday through Friday as a holding unit. The night of the tornado, it was staffed with nurses from the inpatient areas and the Emergency Center, plus a physician who responded to the call for help.
Each inpatient was assigned to an inpatient physician. "It was fairly seamless," Braswell says.
The night was not without challenges, however. In setting up the command center, staff callback was a problem, Braswell says. "Due to the weather in Albany, it was dangerous for some to come in," he says. "But we decided to handle it with the staff in-house. Forty-five is not an overwhelming number."
After an F3 tornado severely damaged Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus, GA, and led to an evacuation of all patients, Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany, GA, was designated as one of the accepting hospitals. During the evacuation, Phoebe Putney accepted 45 patients, which included inpatients and emergency patients from Sumter Regional.Subscribe Now for Access
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