TheFluMaster
Resident
Scottsdale Hospitals Plan Flu Pandemic Disaster Drill
March 12th, 2007 @ 10:14am by KTAR Newsroom
Pandemic flu isn't front page news yet, but Scottsdale Healthcare is already planning its second disaster drill to help prepare for a crisis outbreak of bird flu.
On April 25, hundreds of simulated patients with bird flu symptoms are expected at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn and Scottsdale Healthcare Shea as part of the second annual Coyote Crisis Campaign.
Both hospitals will simulate triaging flu patients, screening employees and physicians entering the hospitals, and enacting access control points. Hospital visitors that day may also be asked to pass through simulated flu screenings and receive educational material on flu.
Humans will have little or no natural immunity to Avian flu, commonly referred to as H5N1 or bird flu, when it eventually spreads to North America, according to public health experts.
A flu disaster drill held last fall activated emergency operations centers to manage and conduct mass immunizations of hospital employees at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn and Scottsdale Healthcare Shea.
April's drill is part of the Coyote Crisis Campaign, a regional disaster response exercise testing readiness and collaboration among hospitals, business, academic institutions, military and government, including health agencies at the county, state and federal levels.
"This exercise will help determine how participants would deal with a pandemic flu, and how they would interact with others in the community to help get through such an unprecedented public health emergency," says Nancy Hicks-Arsenault, RN, director of emergency services at Scottsdale Healthcare.
Participants in this year's Coyote event include Scottsdale Healthcare, the Air National Guard, General Dynamics, Luke Air Force Base, the City of Scottsdale, Arizona State University, Maricopa Integrated Health System, Scottsdale Insurance Company, the Arizona Republic, Mayo Clinic, the Arizona Department of Health Services, Maricopa County Department of Emergency Management and Maricopa County Department of Public Health.
The concept of local disaster response planning was successfully tested during the inaugural Coyote Crisis Campaign in April 2006, which simulated a terrorist attack in Scottsdale. The 2007 Coyote Crisis Campaign is planned for the week of April 23-27.
Observers from the military, state and county government, as well as officials from Washington, DC attended the 2006 exercise and noted it set the national benchmark for local disaster response.
Established in 1962 and governed by a local volunteer board of directors, Scottsdale Healthcare is the not-for-profit parent organization of the Scottsdale Healthcare Shea, Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn and Scottsdale Healthcare Thompson Peak hospitals, the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center, Scottsdale Clinical Research Institute, Scottsdale Healthcare Home Health Services and Scottsdale Healthcare Community Health Services.
http://ktar.com/?nid=6&sid=414259
March 12th, 2007 @ 10:14am by KTAR Newsroom
Pandemic flu isn't front page news yet, but Scottsdale Healthcare is already planning its second disaster drill to help prepare for a crisis outbreak of bird flu.
On April 25, hundreds of simulated patients with bird flu symptoms are expected at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn and Scottsdale Healthcare Shea as part of the second annual Coyote Crisis Campaign.
Both hospitals will simulate triaging flu patients, screening employees and physicians entering the hospitals, and enacting access control points. Hospital visitors that day may also be asked to pass through simulated flu screenings and receive educational material on flu.
Humans will have little or no natural immunity to Avian flu, commonly referred to as H5N1 or bird flu, when it eventually spreads to North America, according to public health experts.
A flu disaster drill held last fall activated emergency operations centers to manage and conduct mass immunizations of hospital employees at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn and Scottsdale Healthcare Shea.
April's drill is part of the Coyote Crisis Campaign, a regional disaster response exercise testing readiness and collaboration among hospitals, business, academic institutions, military and government, including health agencies at the county, state and federal levels.
"This exercise will help determine how participants would deal with a pandemic flu, and how they would interact with others in the community to help get through such an unprecedented public health emergency," says Nancy Hicks-Arsenault, RN, director of emergency services at Scottsdale Healthcare.
Participants in this year's Coyote event include Scottsdale Healthcare, the Air National Guard, General Dynamics, Luke Air Force Base, the City of Scottsdale, Arizona State University, Maricopa Integrated Health System, Scottsdale Insurance Company, the Arizona Republic, Mayo Clinic, the Arizona Department of Health Services, Maricopa County Department of Emergency Management and Maricopa County Department of Public Health.
The concept of local disaster response planning was successfully tested during the inaugural Coyote Crisis Campaign in April 2006, which simulated a terrorist attack in Scottsdale. The 2007 Coyote Crisis Campaign is planned for the week of April 23-27.
Observers from the military, state and county government, as well as officials from Washington, DC attended the 2006 exercise and noted it set the national benchmark for local disaster response.
Established in 1962 and governed by a local volunteer board of directors, Scottsdale Healthcare is the not-for-profit parent organization of the Scottsdale Healthcare Shea, Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn and Scottsdale Healthcare Thompson Peak hospitals, the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center, Scottsdale Clinical Research Institute, Scottsdale Healthcare Home Health Services and Scottsdale Healthcare Community Health Services.
http://ktar.com/?nid=6&sid=414259