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How to prepare yourself, your family and your homeSamaritan Health Services, in cooperation with the Benton County Emergency Management office, has developed and distributed an individual/family preparedness booklet. It is a helpful resource to guide individuals as they develop an emergency plan to protect and prepare themselves and their families for any type of man-made or natural disaster. Click here to download a copy of this booklet. For more information regarding preparedness within your community, please visit your county Web page available in the online resources page. PlanningAlternative Care SitesWhat happens when the hospital is full, yet there are more injured or ill people coming to the emergency department every minute? How do we keep the hospital running without being overwhelmed and losing control and effectiveness? Samaritan is working with local county health departments to develop alternative care sites. These are sites within the community that can be used for triaging, treating or caring for victims of an emergency. The purpose of an alternate care site is to treat people as close to their home community as possible, while using the local hospital for those that need the highest level of care. Facilities throughout the community are being identified that can provide space for treatment, beds, HVAC and other items necessary for medical care. Some sites will triage or provide minor treatment only, and other sites will hold patients for a few days while they are under medical care. Those requiring advanced medical care will be admitted to the hospital until they recover. This plan requires community leadership, medical practitioners and other clinically certified people and facility owners to become involved in preparing the community for medical disaster response. With cooperation and planning, this integrated effort will ensure everyone receives appropriate medical treatment. Pandemic flu planning is under waySamaritan and county health departments are working together to develop a community preparedness and response plan for the pandemic flu. Through education outreach and awareness, our goal is to teach you how to protect yourself and prepare your family. Scientists have identified the pandemic flu virus and are monitoring the bird population to track locations of infected birds. They are encouraging communities to prepare for the virus’ arrival. Samaritan has combined information and research from case studies, other infectious disease event literature, and guidelines from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and developed a plan to respond to a large scale event. The plan integrates shortage of bed space, increased need for ventilators, shortage of staff, and potential medication shortfalls into our existing incident command system response structure. As the World Health Organization’s (WHO) advisory level changes, department managers and hospital leadership meet to discuss implications and update the plan. At key level changes, portions of the plan are implemented and Samaritan begins preparation.
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