Emergency officials across southwest Ohio say they are confident in the region’s emergency preparedness.
Hannah Poturalski, Journal-News | July 14, 2014
Emergency officials across southwest Ohio say they are confident in the region’s emergency preparedness and ability to respond in the event of a crisis.
Since May, five tornadoes have touched down in parts of Ohio — the nearest being an F3 tornado that landed May 15 in Greene County to the northeast of Butler County, said Brian Coniglio, meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Wilmington.
It’s events like that — as well as mass-casualty incidents, flooding, intense cold and periods of high flu activity — that emergency responders and hospital staff are training for in order to coordinate a quick and efficient response, said Jennifer Mason, emergency medical services and disaster management coordinator at Fort Hamilton Hospital.
The Eaton Avenue hospital was the recent site of an emergency preparedness training held June 6 in collaboration with the Butler County Health Department and Butler County Emergency Management Agency.
The training brought out hospital staff and volunteers from the Tristate Medical Reserve Corps and local Community Emergency Response Team to practice deployment of an alternative care center in the event of a disaster such as tornado, major power outages and mass-casualty incidents.
Sarah Moore, emergency preparedness coordinator at Butler County Health Department, said there are 150 registered volunteers in Butler County for the Tristate Medical Reserve Corps that serves a 21-county area of southwest Ohio, northern Kentucky and southeast Indiana.
Overall there are more than 2,700 volunteers as part of the Tristate Medical Reserve Corps, said Jared Warner, regional director of Tristate Medical Reserve Corps.
In Butler County, there are about 20 nurses and several physicians and veterinarians on the volunteer force, Moore said. Training programs and exercises are offered throughout the year for volunteers, including those offered by the Butler County EMA.
“We focus on disasters with a medical or public health impact,” Warner said, including effects from Hurricane Ike in 2008.
The alternative care center set up outside Fort Hamilton Hospital was just one wing of a 210-bed mobile hospital available in southwest Ohio through the Greater Cincinnati Health Council. The mobile hospital consists of just under 20 tents in six trailers positioned across the region.
“It’s quite a resource we have for this area,” Mason said.
The June training event included staff from not only Fort Hamilton, but West Chester and Bethesda Butler hospitals, local fire departments and health departments in Hamilton, Middletown and Butler and Warren counties.
“What I see in our area that I don’t see in other communities is a history of cooperation between all the agencies,” Warner said. “For decades we’ve been working together.”
The mobile hospital — complete with heating, air conditioning and generators — was most recently deployed in March in Colerain Twp. in response to 20,000 gallons of oil spilling. A wing of the mobile hospital served as a command center for emergency personnel, said Tonda Francis, vice president of Greater Cincinnati Health Council.
The health council also coordinates a Disaster Preparedness Coalition that meets every other month with representatives from long-term care facilities; fire and EMS; public health agencies; American Red Cross; and Hoxworth, University of Cincinnati.
The group reviews training exercises, shares real events and best practices and develops and updates the regional response plan.
“I’m very confident in our region’s preparedness,” Mason said. “Everyone is eager and willing to learn.”
©2014 the Journal-News (Hamilton, Ohio). Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
Since May, five tornadoes have touched down in parts of Ohio — the nearest being an F3 tornado that landed May 15 in Greene County to the northeast of Butler County, said Brian Coniglio, meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Wilmington.
It’s events like that — as well as mass-casualty incidents, flooding, intense cold and periods of high flu activity — that emergency responders and hospital staff are training for in order to coordinate a quick and efficient response, said Jennifer Mason, emergency medical services and disaster management coordinator at Fort Hamilton Hospital.
The Eaton Avenue hospital was the recent site of an emergency preparedness training held June 6 in collaboration with the Butler County Health Department and Butler County Emergency Management Agency.
The training brought out hospital staff and volunteers from the Tristate Medical Reserve Corps and local Community Emergency Response Team to practice deployment of an alternative care center in the event of a disaster such as tornado, major power outages and mass-casualty incidents.
Sarah Moore, emergency preparedness coordinator at Butler County Health Department, said there are 150 registered volunteers in Butler County for the Tristate Medical Reserve Corps that serves a 21-county area of southwest Ohio, northern Kentucky and southeast Indiana.
Overall there are more than 2,700 volunteers as part of the Tristate Medical Reserve Corps, said Jared Warner, regional director of Tristate Medical Reserve Corps.
In Butler County, there are about 20 nurses and several physicians and veterinarians on the volunteer force, Moore said. Training programs and exercises are offered throughout the year for volunteers, including those offered by the Butler County EMA.
“We focus on disasters with a medical or public health impact,” Warner said, including effects from Hurricane Ike in 2008.
The alternative care center set up outside Fort Hamilton Hospital was just one wing of a 210-bed mobile hospital available in southwest Ohio through the Greater Cincinnati Health Council. The mobile hospital consists of just under 20 tents in six trailers positioned across the region.
“It’s quite a resource we have for this area,” Mason said.
The June training event included staff from not only Fort Hamilton, but West Chester and Bethesda Butler hospitals, local fire departments and health departments in Hamilton, Middletown and Butler and Warren counties.
“What I see in our area that I don’t see in other communities is a history of cooperation between all the agencies,” Warner said. “For decades we’ve been working together.”
The mobile hospital — complete with heating, air conditioning and generators — was most recently deployed in March in Colerain Twp. in response to 20,000 gallons of oil spilling. A wing of the mobile hospital served as a command center for emergency personnel, said Tonda Francis, vice president of Greater Cincinnati Health Council.
The health council also coordinates a Disaster Preparedness Coalition that meets every other month with representatives from long-term care facilities; fire and EMS; public health agencies; American Red Cross; and Hoxworth, University of Cincinnati.
The group reviews training exercises, shares real events and best practices and develops and updates the regional response plan.
“I’m very confident in our region’s preparedness,” Mason said. “Everyone is eager and willing to learn.”
©2014 the Journal-News (Hamilton, Ohio). Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
http://www.emergencymgmt.com/
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