Abstract
Man made as well as natural disasters have forced hospital administrators to consider worst-case scenarios and how medical services and supplies might be allocated in such instances. Cullman Regional Medical Center in Cullman, Alabama, was one institution forced to face the worst after their community was devastated by an F4 tornado on April 27, 2011. Stacey Hill, Director of Pharmacy, shared some experiences and lessons learned from the implementation of the hospital's disaster plan.
Cullman Regional Medical Center, a 145-bed acute care center, provides 24/7 pharmacy services and, like most hospitals, had a disaster plan in place that was routinely tested with disaster scenarios with volunteer actors. Dr. Hill stated that mock disaster drills were helpful, but there was truly no way to prepare to “look out the window and see an F4 tornado coming directly at your hospital.” She also noted that the hospital “became the center of the community in a lot of ways.” For several days, the hospital was the only facility in the county that had electrical power. During this time, thousands of people depended on the hospital cafeteria for food, and electrical power stations were set up in the lobby so that visitors could charge their cellular devices to make contact with friends and family. Innovative approaches included the development of a pharmacy intranet blog that notified hospital staff about which local community pharmacies were still in operation so that patients discharged from the emergency department would be able to have prescriptions filled appropriately. Video boards in the lobby were used to display news footage from Birmingham television stations, which provided the first view of the devastation of Cullman to many community members.
Even with meticulous planning, there were un-anticipated scenarios. Vaccines from local medical offices required the rental of a refrigerated truck to accommodate appropriate storage. Power outages in ancillary professional office buildings impacted the workflow of clinical laboratory services. However, Dr. Hill emphasized that without the hospital's previous work on a disaster plan, managing the subsequent events “would have been virtually impossible.”
Cullman Regional Medical Center embodies The Joint Commission recommendation regarding the dissemination of information about lessons learned regarding emergency preparedness. 2 The events in Cullman, Alabama, serve as a poignant example of the importance of community involvement in emergency preparedness and illustrate the need for incorporation of community organizations into the disaster planning process. We encourage our readership to share information regarding disaster planning and innovative practices that optimize patient care during times of crisis. Hospital Pharmacy welcomes ideas and suggestions related to these efforts.