Welcome to Three Rivers Health

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS POLICY

It is the policy of Three Rivers Health to provide a framework for response to emergencies, internal or external, naturally-occurring or man-made, which will guide all staff in managing the event safely and assuring rapid recovery to normal operating conditions. All Three Rivers Health staff, students, contract employees, and volunteers should have a working knowledge of the Emergency Management Plan. They will be expected to follow the plan in case of an emergency. In accordance with the standards of The Joint Commission, a minimum of two emergency preparedness exercises/drills will be conducted each year. Actual events that precipitate use of the EMP are documented to meet The Joint Commission requirements.

The Three Rivers community must understand that implementation of any aspect of the Emergency Management Plan will be based on the best information available to the decision makers. Staff should not implement this plan without being officially notified by Senior Management, House Supervisor, Safety Officer, or Patient Safety Officer. The Environment of Care Committee also recognizes, however, that certain emergency situations are more likely to occur or to have an adverse impact on the hospital or the community. Therefore, as part of its mitigation and preparedness activities, Three Rivers Health conducts an annual hazard vulnerability analysis (HVA), designed to:

Identify emergency situations that could occur in this environment

Assess their probability of occurrence

Assess their potential impact on the institution and the community

The HVA is used to assess the hospital's current emergency management activities and to identify necessary changes, additional planning activities, and specific exercise scenarios in light of perceived gaps. Because Three Rivers Health is one of two receiving hospitals in Saint Joseph County – program and contingency plan priorities have been developed in consultation with:

The Michigan State Police 5th District Medical Response Coalition which includes nine counties in southwest MI: Allegan, Barry, Berrien, Branch, Cass, Calhoun, Kalamazoo, St. Joseph, and Van Buren, with connections to other State, Regional, and Local planning.

The St. Joseph County Emergency Planning Emergency Operations Center

The St. Joseph County Medical Control Authority

For planning purposes, the current HVA is included as Addendum II. Contingency plans, developed as the result of a hazard vulnerability analysis, are designed to guide personnel in the initial stages of specific emergency situations that may seriously overtax or threaten to overtax the routine capabilities of the Hospital. The basic framework and specific contingency plans have been submitted to the St. Joseph County Emergency Management Agency for review. The hospital currently has contingency plans in place to guide initial response to:

Mass Casualty Incidents (Medical and Trauma)

Civil disturbances

Hazard Materials Incidents (including chemical and radiation emergencies)

Biological Terrorism (Decon Team)

Severe Weather (Code Yellow & Code Black)

Infant Abduction (Code Adam)

Child Abduction (Amber Alert)

Fire (Code Red)

Evacuation

Bomb Threats (Code White)

Hostage situations

Shelter-in-Place

EMERGENCY ACTIVATION
The President/CEO of Three Rivers Health is the final authority for approval of the Code Green Activation. The President has designated the Safety Officer as the Emergency Preparedness Officer and activation of our plans will follow a chain of command outlined in the following sections of this document. Absences of the President/CEO and Safety Officer, others may activate the Code Green Plan as listed in the order below:

Vice Presidents: Chief Nurse Executive, Chief Financial Officer, or the Vice President of Operations

House Supervisor

Anyone covering for any of the above.

INCIDENT COMMAND SYSTEM
As previously mentioned, the Hospital utilizes an Incident Command Structure to coordinate essential services and assign basic responsibilities during disaster response. This system is flexible and allows the hospital to activate and organize a command structure based on the response needs of the actual event. Hospital Emergency Incident Command (HEICS) attributes are:

It is a dependable chain-of-command

Improved communication through common language

Flexibility in section activation

Prioritization of duties … Job Action Sheets

Organized documentation for improved financial recovery

Facilitates effective mutual aid with other hospital and other agencies.

In most cases, Hospital Administrators and other key staff will assume disaster response responsibilities consistent with their primary responsibilities. The basic command structure utilized at Three Rivers Health follows:
The CEO or Safety Officer or designee will have the operator page overhead four times: “Code Green” on the code microphone and activate the Telephone Tree. The PBX operator and/or designee will then contact Senior Administration, The Safety Officer, and if needed Maintenance, and the Material Management Supervisor. The House Supervisor/or one Administrator will assume command center duties until additional Command Center Team Members arrive. All employees are to report to the dinning room to sign in on the Code Green sign in sheets. They will then return to their departments unless otherwise assigned by the Command Center Team. The Human Resource department is responsible for staffing the sign-in sheet area. NEED PLAN FOR 2nd and 3rd Shift

Figure 1 – Basic Incident Command System Structure

US Patent Numbers 7,720,998 B2, 7,836,207