Monday, April 30, 2007
For the Attention of
Hospital CEOs, Emergency Preparedness Leads, and the Joint Health and Safety Committee
Greg Shaw
Vice President, Strategic Human Resources Management
Emergency Preparedness Week May 6 to12_2007
Emergency Preparedness week is held annually to promote the importance of personal preparedness and allows organizations to build awareness about their planning initiatives. This year EP week runs from May 6 – 12, 2007. To help with your preparedness activities, the Ontario Hospital Association has developed this Bulletin and published a Fact Sheet on Tamiflu (attached).
The OHA Emergency Preparedness Program aims to:
• Raise awareness about emergency preparedness and management
• Provide leadership and be a resource to hospitals in their emergency preparedness activities
• Promote standardization in the planning and management of emergencies in hospitals
• Foster the sharing of tools and resources between hospitals
• Advocate on the behalf of hospitals for better system coordination.
The following provides information about some of the initiatives currently underway.
The OHA’s Health Emergency Management Committee
The mandate and objectives of the Emergency Preparedness Program are guided by the Health Emergency Management Committee (HEMC), which is comprised of 25 members from hospitals and includes representation from the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care. HEMC meets quarterly and provides advice on Emergency Preparedness related initiatives.
Pandemic Planning Toolkit for SRN Hospitals
The OHA is developing a Pandemic Planning Toolkit for Small, Rural, and Northern Hospitals, which is being guided by a working group. The toolkit will be comprised of chapters addressing topics such as Human Resources Considerations, Patient Assessment and Management, and Communications; and will be launched at OHA HealthAchieve, November 2007.
IMS-Hospital Codes Toolkit
The OHA has pulled together an Incident Management System (IMS)-Hospital Codes Working Group for the purpose of developing a toolkit for hospitals in applying IMS within their facility to respond to incidents. The toolkit will support and help supplement work completed to date by hospitals. The work of the group and toolkit will include:
- Developing a Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (HIRA) tool for hospitals
- Restandardizing the Hospital Emergency codes
- Defining terminology for IMS in Hospitals and criteria for its use
- Developing a IMS-Hospital Code overlay
This toolkit will be launched to members at an Emergency Preparedness Conference in early 2008.
Emergency Preparedness Tools and Resources
The OHA would like to facilitate information sharing between hospitals by posting plans, tools, and resources related to emergency preparedness and management on our website. Please contact Karen Sequeira by email ksequeira@oha.com or phone at 416-205-1328.
Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC)
To help you get prepared, the Emergency Management Unit (EMU) at the MOHLTC has prepared a list of online resources and activities which health care organizations and professionals may wish to consider in promoting Emergency Preparedness Week (see attached letter).
Hospitals are encouraged to submit their EP week highlights, stories, and pictures to the EMU (emergencymanagement@moh.gov.on.ca) by May 18, 2007 to be profiled on the EMU’s website.
If you have any questions about this Bulletin, please contact Karen Sequeira, Consultant, Patient Safety and Clinical Best Practice at 416-205-1328 (email: ksequeira@oha.com).