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EFEF--5 TORNADO5 TORNADO
ST. JOHNS MEDICAL CENTERST. JOHNS MEDICAL CENTER
JOPLIN, MISSOURIJOPLIN, MISSOURI
Baylor Health Care System
Environmental Safety and Emergency Management
Baylor Emergency Response Team
INTRODUCTIONINTRODUCTION
• St. John’s Hospital was directly impacted by an EF-5
Tornado on May 22nd.
• Baylor Health Care System sent a Liaison Team from
the Baylor Emergency Response Team (BERT) to
survey the damage sustained to the hospital and the survey the damage sustained to the hospital and the
City of Joplin.
BERT LIAISON TEAM OBJECTIVESBERT LIAISON TEAM OBJECTIVES
• The Baylor Emergency Response Team was comprised of members
from the Environmental Safety and Emergency Management
Department as well as Faith In Action which donated numerous
supplies to the Joplin area.
• The primary goal of the deployment was to capture information
particular to the hospital in three primary areas:particular to the hospital in three primary areas:
BERT Objectives:
1. General preparedness prior
to the incident, and the
actions leading up to the
impact.
2. The immediate actions
taken in response to the taken in response to the
tornado by the hospital and
supporting agencies post
impact (0-24 hours).
3. The short term recovery
actions taken by the
hospital (24-120 hours).
EF-5 Tornado
Arguably the worst in US
history
12 mile path, 1 mile wide
Lasting approximately 20 Lasting approximately 20
minutes
Damaging several major pieces
of infrastructure:
• Utilities
• Wal-Mart
• Home Depot
• 5 schools
St. Johns Hospital
• 80 year old hospital
• 9 stories
• 186 patients evacuated
• 0 hospital employees
died
HOSPITAL PREPAREDNESSHOSPITAL PREPAREDNESS1. General preparedness prior to the incident, and the actions leading
up to the impact.
Hospital Preparedness
St. Johns had done exercises and considered themselves ready for most perils.
They had the same type of evacuation protocols as Baylor, “Severe weather” to get them ready, then “Code Black/Gray” ready, then “Code Black/Gray” to move patients.
They received support from their corporate office on their preparations.
Complacency existed among citizens due to frequent use of sirens.
INITIAL RESPONSEINITIAL RESPONSE2. The immediate actions taken in response to the tornado by the
hospital and supporting agencies post impact (0-24 hours).
Communication
The hospital had initiated
their Code Grey plan
(BHCS=Code Black).
Most patients and visitors
complied with the staff
requests to move to interior
hallways
Employees didn’t initially come
to the hospital because “surely
they would have called us if
there was a problem”.
Some staff found it very
difficult to make it to the
hospital due to roads being
closed from debris.
Evacuation
Two inches of water in the
hospital.
Staff worried about the
hospital safety due to a small
fire and natural gas leaks.
Staff used doors that were
blown off of their hinges to blown off of their hinges to
transport patients down the
stairs.
Hospital was evacuated in 90
minutes.
No official call to evacuate –
Staff instinctively “knew what
to needed to be done”.
Triage and Transport
Initial triage unit in the
parking lot.
Secondary triage had to be set
up across street at order of fire
department due to gas leak
The community still coming for
treatment even as they are
evacuating. evacuating.
Residents from the
surrounding areas just showed
up to help and to transport
patients.
During catastrophic disasters,
critical thinking skills and
instinctive reactions take over.
SHORT TERM RECOVERYSHORT TERM RECOVERY3. The short term recovery actions taken by the hospital (24-120
hours).
Hospital Grounds
Memorial hall established as
temporary ED.
Missouri DMAT set up field
hospital.
Initial difficulty getting FEMA
to assist.to assist.
The community and others
came out in force and offered
enormous resources to help.
The president and Board of
Trustees moved quickly to
purchase land for modular
hospital nearby.
Hospital Administration
Convention center used as
hospital admin and EOC.
Excellent support from Mercy
System.
Commitment by hospital CEO
and leadership to employees and leadership to employees
(one page add in newspaper).
Mercy System assured
employees that their pay and
benefits would not be
interrupted.
Agreements with other
hospitals to utilize employees.
Lessons Learned
Redundant communications
• Social media
Public relations
• To community
• To employees
More Training
• Evacuation drills• Evacuation drills
• Debris management
training
Identify secondary offsite EOC
sites
“Flashlights saved lives”
Community support and
involvement
Reality Check – This could have been us!
DFW, like Joplin is on edge of Tornado
Alley, 5 EF3 or greater tornados touched
down in last 3 years in DFW.
There is very little preparation that can
truly prepare for this level of destruction.
Staff education on reality of such event
will save lives as demonstrated at St.
Johns.
Working with media relations to update and revise protocols for utilizing radio and other local media to
What is Baylor doing to prepare?
Working with media relations to update and revise protocols for utilizing radio and other local media to
broadcast messages to employees during land line and cell phone outages.
Enhancing Code Black process awareness. Ensuring activation protocols are concise and initial alert is
timely.
Enhancing partnerships at the local, regional and state levels. Working with Emergency Medical Task Force
coordinators to operationalize state assets at the local level.
Evacuation equipment is being implemented at all BHCS hospitals. Training on the equipment is occurring
and full scale exercises are being planned in conjunction with local jurisdictions.
Power outage kits including various types of lights, glow sticks and other key items have been distributed.
Baylor Emergency Response Team (BERT) and Disaster Training Academy. We have obtained HR and
Legal approval for the team to respond to a scenario like Joplin in support of other healthcare organizations
if requested.