|
The largest patient movement exercise in U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services’ history began
today to test the nationwide ability to move patients with
highly infectious diseases safely and securely to regional
treatment centers.
“Saving lives during crises requires
preparation and training,” explained HHS Assistant
Secretary for Preparedness and Response Robert Kadlec, M.D.
“A tremendous amount of coordination, synchronization, and
skill is needed to move patients with highly infectious
diseases safely. We have to protect the patients and the
healthcare workers caring for those patients. This type of
exercise helps ensure that everyone involved is ready for
that level of complexity.”
Coordinated by the HHS Office of the Assistant
Secretary for Preparedness and Response, more than 50
organizations will participate, including the Department of
State, Department of Transportation, the Regional Ebola
Treatment Centers, local and state health and emergency
management agencies, hospitals, airport authorities, and
non-government organizations.
Throughout the exercise, participants react as
if the incident is real. They must take the necessary
actions and employ the appropriate resources to manage and
protect the patients, the workforce and the environment and
safely transport the patients.
The exercise focuses on moving seven people
acting as patients with Ebola symptoms in different regions
of the country. The patients, including one pediatric
patient, first present themselves at one of the following
healthcare facilities: CHI St. Luke's Health-The Woodlands
Hospital in The Woodlands, Texas; Medical University of
South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina; Norman
Regional Hospital in Norman, Oklahoma; St. Alphonsus
Regional Medical Center in Boise, Idaho, and St. Luke’s
Regional Medical Center in Boise, Idaho.
At each facility, healthcare workers will
collect and ship samples for diagnostic tests to state
laboratories, which in turn will practice running the
necessary laboratory tests to diagnose the patients with
Ebola. As part of the exercise, each patient will receive a
positive diagnosis. Using appropriate isolation techniques
and personal protective equipment, health care workers then
must take steps to have six of the patients transported by
air to designated Regional Ebola Treatment Centers. These
patients will be placed into mobile biocontainment units
for these flights. The pediatric patient will be placed
into protective equipment and transported by ground
ambulance.
The treatment centers that will receive the
patients are Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles,
California; Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia;
Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane,
Washington; and University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston,
Texas. The pediatric patient will be transported to Texas
Children’s Hospital West Campus in Houston, Texas.
The participating airports are Boise Airport
in Boise, Idaho; Charleston International Airport in
Charleston, South Carolina; DeKalb-Peachtree Airport in
Atlanta, Georgia; Ellington Field Airport in Houston,
Texas; Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles,
California; Spokane International Airport in Spokane,
Washington; and Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma. Upon arrival, local emergency responders will
transfer the patients to ground ambulances for
transportation from the airports to the treatment centers.
HHS and the Department of State previously
collaborated on exercises to move Americans acting as Ebola
patients from West African countries to Ebola treatment
centers in the United States. In public health emergencies
or disasters, the U.S. government orchestrates the return
of Americans to the United States, including Americans who
are sick or injured.
This exercise runs through April 12.
Participants will gather on April 13 to assess the
exercise, compare actions across the country, and share
best practices for moving patients with highly infectious
diseases.
. |
No comments:
Post a Comment