One OHN overcomes resistance to outsiders
One OHN overcomes resistance to outsiders
Strong relationships built from scratch
Mary D. C. Garison, RN, COHN-S, CCM, COHC, FAAOHN, an Angleton, TX-based occupational health nurse, says that over a decade ago, she built her successful working relationship with the emergency medical services (EMS) and hospital community while working as an occupational health nurse at a chemical plant in Bay City, TX and a research center in Corpus Christi, TX.
"As an occupational health nurse, responsible for the care of over 500 employees at each site, I felt the need to prepare for the unexpected, knowing the potential for explosion and serious chemical plant emergencies," says Garison.
Surprisingly, the toughest part was convincing management of the need for a mass casualty drill. At the time, this was not easy. "At first, it was difficult selling this to management. I had a lot of resistance and it took me five years to get approval," says Garison.
Another obstacle involved higher-ups, who told Garison that coordinating such a large activity was not allowed by anyone except top management. "I had to get my boss to present my proposal, but my main interest was to get the scenario approved and move on. The objective was to protect our employees," says Garison.
Eventually, Garison used her working relationship with the company's EMS site trainer to coordinate the drill. "It was important to build trust by including top management in every step of the drill," says Garison. "We did table top drills showing them how and why it would be a plus with the community, since the community did not trust or like chemical plants."
Company didn't want outsiders
Management was firmly convinced that they didn't want any outside emergency service providers inside the plant. "They believed they were self-sufficient, they trusted their state of the art equipment and their once a year training," says Garison. However, Garison noted that the company's employees might not be able to access necessary equipment during an emergency, and therefore, external providers needed knowledge of the worksite.
"My experience as an ER trauma nurse gave me the confidence I needed to press on," says Garison. "I also had the cream of the crop to work with - my EMS trainer who knew the politics, weakness and needs of such plant sites."
Garison began building working relationships with ER nurses, nursing directors, hospital administrators, the local fire chief, EMS, and the health department. "I volunteer for many groups in our community for visibility and to build trust," she says. "I then proposed to do a mass casualty drill using employees and family members as victims."
To be as realistic as possible, the drill used injuries that could be a result of working in a chemical plant. "We got a positive write-up in the newspaper and good coverage on our local TV station. After that, I had no problems scheduling and requesting funds to support our drills," says Garison. "This brought a tremendous working relationship with our local EMS, fire and police departments, and hospitals. It was awesome!"
From then on, the company held an annual mass casualty drill involving local emergency providers. "Management began to put our drill on the main planning agenda. Our local managers started to invite corporate to come and be part of our community drill and show support," says Garison.
Another positive result was Garison using the strengthened relationships with local providers to hold the company's first community health fair. "This then took place every August, before school started so that we could get the children ready with immunizations. Again, hospitals, EMS, police and fire department were all included," says Garison.
Mary D. C. Garison, RN, COHN-S, CCM, COHC, FAAOHN, an Angleton, TX-based occupational health nurse, says that over a decade ago, she built her successful working relationship with the emergency medical services (EMS) and hospital community while working as an occupational health nurse at a chemical plant in Bay City, TX and a research center in Corpus Christi, TX.Subscribe Now for Access
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