Hospital
1) Marisa shared information about the Versa-Flow trade in program with the hospitals, this program has been extended through December 31 so if you didn’t have a chance to register yet you may still do so. The information was distributed in an email from Jennifer on December 2.
2) Marisa is working on negotiating a coalition rate for PAPR supplies. More to come.
3) The Blank Wisconsin Hospital Mutual Aid MOU is attached for those hospitals that have not signed it and sent it back to Jennifer yet.
4) A few years back, WHEPP furnished many hospitals with a decontamination tent and hot water heater. A question was raised about what the current responsibility was for the hospitals that accepted them. The MOU in place at distribution has expired so there are no current obligations. However, in many regions hospitals are still using theirs and paying for maintenance and upkeep, since it is an OSHA requirement to be able to decontaminate a certain number of people per hour.
5) We had a discussion about whether we wanted to keep holding a hospital meeting prior to the general membership meeting. A majority voted in favor of preserving the hospital meeting, since it is the only meeting for hospitals in our region, while other disciplines have their own meetings (trauma has RTAC, public health has WALHDAB etc.)
General Membership
6) Tim Halbach joined us from the National Weather Service to talk about winter weather hazards and alerting. His slides are attached, and the video can be viewed at http://videos.med.wisc.edu/videoInfo.php?videoid=71803 . There are some issues towards the end of the video because the conference line was tied up by hold music, but Tim does go on to answer some important questions. The National Weather Service has an email distribution list for important weather events. Please email timothy.j.halbach@noaa.gov to have your name added to this list or if you have any other questions related to his presentation or weather hazards.
7) We discussed the SCHCC Training and Exercise Needs Survey. The tabletop exercise this year will have a training on emergency healthcare evacuation. We’re still honing in on partner needs for active shooter training. The Pediatric Disaster Response and Emergency Preparedness course through FEMA will be offered in the region between December 4-10, 2017, unless the course administrators have a cancellation and can offer it sooner. We talked about needing more training on aggression management and nonviolent crisis intervention (NCI). Three partners from the region were certified as NCI trainers last year, but per the Crisis Prevention Institute they are not allowed to share this information outside of their employers.
8) There will be a week reserved for the Wisconsin Healthcare Emergency Preparedness Program partners at the Center for Domestic Preparedness in Anniston, AL, from August 27-September 2, 2017. There are about 20 slots open for our region for three different courses. More information will be coming as it becomes available.
a. Healthcare Leadership for Mass Casualty Incidents (HCL) (9 slots)
b. Hospital Emergency Response Team with Train the Trainer (HERT) (6 slots)
c. Emergency Medical Operations for CBRNE Incidents (6 slots)
9) Marisa explained the regional exercise concept this year. We will be focusing on healthcare evacuation. There will be a training, discussion, and tabletop exercise on healthcare evacuation. Our facilitator will provide generic evacuation exercise templates to share with all partners, which partners can then take back to their organizations, customize as needed, and conduct a functional/full-scale exercise if desired. We will then gather lessons learned and write those into our regional exercise AAR. Our goal is to have the tabletop in April, designate a week in early May for partners to do their on-site functional/full-scale exercises, and collect information needed for our regional AAR by mid-May.
10) Jennifer reviewed the new WI Trac dashboards. Our goal is to have the bed counts updated on WI Trac at least daily. This will become important as we move forward with regional medical coordination and as EMS becomes more reliant on WI Trac for decisions about patient transport. Jennifer will be drafting a formal letter to share with hospital administrators emphasizing the importance of daily bed updates in WI Trac.
11) WHEPP is working on an informational packet for the CMS Final Rule for Emergency Preparedness. This is also an opportunity for us to offer trainings within the region.
12) Microgrant funding this year will be used to fund trainings within the region. This is an efficient use of funding and follows the state and national healthcare coalition trend of building systems instead of buying stuff. Priority will be given to trainings that also benefit partners outside the requesting agency. To submit a microgrant funding request, please submit the following information to Jennifer by email, and she will forward onto the Board for review.
a. What- Which training would you like to offer?
b. Who- Who is the audience served in this training?
c. Where- What kind of venue is needed and in what area of the region?
d. How much- what is the approximate cost of the training?
13) We are working on live streaming future meetings so attendees can still see visual content accompanying the meeting.
14) It came to my attention that the Ebola exercise AAR from May might not have been distributed to the whole coalition, so it is attached.
Future Meetings:
Feb 3, 2017 – General Membership 9:30-11:30
Apr 7, 2017 – General Membership 9:30-11:30
Jun 2, 2017 – General Membership 9:30-11:30