Preparing for the What Ifs
Posted By: Steven Lipstein 
Date Posted: September 9th, 2009 Category: Health Care
News about the worldwide H1N1 flu outbreak swept the globe faster than the virus. Infectious disease experts within BJC worked closely with local, regional, state and national officials through multiple channels to keep abreast of new developments and ensure our hospitals and our staff are as prepared as they can be for early detection and appropriate treatment of affected patients.
The H1N1 outbreak has underscored the importance of emergency planning and preparedness. The BJC Emergency Response Team, formed shortly after the events of September 11, 2001, brings together representatives from across BJC and all hospitals and service organizations in a multitude of disciplines to think about the unthinkable and put plans in place to address the scary “What if’s?” in our world.
Over the past eight years, this team has been working continually to ensure BJC is as prepared as possible for the unexpected and that our hospitals and staff will be ready to serve the health care needs of our communities in times of crisis.
The team develops and communicates core policies and procedures for emergency situations ranging from natural disasters to bioterrorism to pandemic flu. These policies and procedures include processes for acquisition of personal protective equipment for our employees and special equipment such as decontamination units for emergency departments.
The team is responsible for emergency preparedness education and training for our employees, including drills that involve hospitals and emergency providers throughout the area. The team works with local, regional and state task forces to coordinate planning and response and coordinates memorandums of understanding to clear the way for improved coordination of health care services in disasters.
The Emergency Response Team activities may be most visible during real-life events such as the regional power outage in July 2006, the “Show Me Cares” statewide effort to prepare for Hurricane Katrina evacuees and the more recent H1N1 flu outbreak. In these situations, the team serves as a resource in support of BJC hospitals by coordinating logistics, supplies, purchasing, communications and other activities.
We don’t know at this point what kind of impact the H1N1 virus will have on our communities when influenza season returns in the fall. But at BJC we are assured that our extensive emergency planning efforts have positioned us well to be able to serve our patients and our communities.