Camp Fire Highlights Shortcoming Of Electronic Records: Sometimes Humans Need To Protect Them During Natural Disasters
Access to the records of patients evacuated from the disaster areas can enable vital triage and save lives, but access to those records can be spotty in such cases. California has done more than any other state to enable health IT in disasters.
Politico:
'Praying They Would Make It Out Of There'
As burning ash and black smoke eclipsed six lanes of terrified motorists fleeing the worst fire in California history, Elizabeth Steffen was driving in the wrong direction. Steffen, the director of the SacValley Medshare health information exchange, rushed down Route 99 to Oroville Hospital last month on a single-minded mission: to turn an electronic switch enabling medical records to follow 200 patients evacuated in a mad scramble from a burning hospital and nursing home in Paradise, a town that would soon be annihilated by the Camp Fire. (Allen, 12/7)
In other news from the recovery efforts —
San Francisco Chronicle:
In Camp Fire’s Aftermath, Uncertainty For Scattered Workers Of Shuttered Hospital
The Camp Fire, which tore through Paradise on Nov. 8, killing at least 85 people and destroying nearly 14,000 homes, is also forcing Feather River — the town’s only hospital and largest employer — to grapple with how and where to rebuild, and how to put people like Martens, Awe and Timm back to work. (Ho, 12/11)