Your Community

Emergency Preparedness

Guide Book

COPING WITH A DISASTER

What to Expect From Your Hospital in a Disaster

     Your local hospital has disaster plans in place to react to both internal (like fires in the hospital building) and external (like plane crash) disasters.

     When a disaster is declared the hospital will review the patients currently admitted to the hospital and will immediately discharge any who could be handled safely in another setting.

     This discharge procedure will be done in cooperation with the community disaster planning group if it is a community-wide disaster.

     Any elective procedures such as X-ray examinations or operations will be immediately cancelled.

     Hospital staff will be called into the hospital to provide extra help and areas such as clinic space as well as regular areas, will be utilized to treat victims of the disaster.

     There will be extra security in place at the hospital in order to control access to the hospital to designated entrances only.

     If there is a disaster, do not call the hospital fro routine inquiries, this overloads the switch board and the telephone system preventing its use for managing the hospital's disaster response.