Los Angeles County Hospitals Use Hospital Incident Management System During Pandemic Drill
Concerro Inc. recently announced the successful use of its CommandAware hospital incident management system during the June 18 California Pandemic Influenza Drill.
In response to the ongoing global spread of the novel influenza A (H1N1) virus, The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and the Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA), in collaboration with local health authorities, developed a multi-phase statewide pandemic disaster exercise focused on testing communications, patient movement, and the identification and management of critical resources during a pandemic influenza in California.
The exercise was based on three Homeland Security Target Capabilities to address the objectives of Communications, Intelligence/Information Sharing and Dissemination, and Medical Surge. The exercise was designed to enhance coordination and provide opportunities for integrated planning among a variety of response partners.
On June 18, 20 hospitals in Los Angeles County activated the CommandAware Web-based incident management system to ensure disaster response and collaborative networking for the drill. Through use of CommandAware, participating hospitals and command centers were able to access a common communications framework to manage their response capabilities and identify and coordinate regional resources to ensure effective patient care.
“From the command center to the front-line of patient care, the CommandAware system has operationalized Good Samaritan Hospital’s use of the HICS system,” said Dan McLaughlin, vice president of professional services for Good Samaritan Hospital. “The hospital’s disaster response team is now able to operate with real-time information house-wide as it responds to disaster scenarios. The result has been the calm, orderly and effective deployment of emergency resources.”
The CommandAware resource management platform enabled emergency managers within the hospitals to effectively manage key assets, operations and personnel in order to maintain patient care capabilities and ensure the safety of the hospital’s emergency responders and other staff. CommandAware’s regional communications platform enabled hospitals and county agencies to respond collaboratively by providing real time bed and resource availability updates and Incident Command System communications.
“We are committed to working closely with local and regional healthcare and emergency response providers to ensure CommandAware’s continued reliability as a comprehensive disaster management system,” said Graham Barnes, CEO of Concerro. We’re pleased that our system supported hundreds of users in the recent pandemic flu exercise, and continues to be the leading technology platform for hospital disaster response of all kinds.”