Southern California Hospitals Collaborate on Disaster Planning

Hospitals in Southern California are collaborating on disaster preparedness plans, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports.

Background

State regulations require hospitals to have 24 hours of backup power in the case of a sudden loss of power during a disaster.

However, most Southern California hospitals say that they have enough resources to operate for four or more days under emergency conditions.

Kim Saruwatari -- chief of emergency preparedness for Riverside County's Department of Public Health -- said how well hospitals respond to disasters is "dependent on how big the incident is. If we're talking about a community-wide power outage and we're all drawing on the same vendor supplies, we might not have the resources."

She added, "But, I think many of our hospitals have planned to be self-sufficient for longer than ... 96 hours."

Details of Hospitals' Preparations

Saruwatari said that hospitals in the region hold disaster drills to anticipate events such as:

• Bomb blasts;
• Earthquakes;
• Fires; and
• Shootings.

Scott Smith -- disaster preparedness coordinator at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton -- said most of the facility's training involves earthquake scenarios. He noted that the hospital could operate for three full weeks without power.

Details of Hospitals' Collaboration

Area hospitals shared disaster preparedness strategies at a recent California Hospital Association conference. In addition, hospital officials also discuss disaster-related issues at monthly meetings between area facilities.

According to several emergency management directors, if an emergency occurs and one hospital cannot manage its patients, the facilities have plans in place to send those patients to other hospitals nearby.