April 17: Mock plane crash will put VGH and UBCH to the test
Check your emergency code card: During a real Code Orange, all staff must return to their work area to receive instructions.
It isn’t a matter of if we’ll ever have mass casualties — it’s a matter of when. So on April 17, VGH and UBCH will participate in a YVR exercise involving a mock plane crash, mock patients and more than 24 other organizations.What are we testing?
In Vancouver Acute, we aim to test four major aspects of our Code Orange (mass casualties) plans:
- Administrator On Call (AOC) — This system ensures a senior administrator is available 24/7 to assess imminent risks and decide how to respond to events that potentially impact services. We’ll test the activation and notification of this system at VGH and UBCH.
- triage functional area — We’ll test our Code Orange triage functional area located in the ambulance bay outside the VGH Emergency Department.
- patient tracking — Past events have demonstrated the need to compile a central list of all patients connected to one event, regardless of the hospital delivering care. This exercise will be testing and evaluating a newly developed protocol to gather this information while supporting victims and protecting patient confidentiality. VGH will be the coordination point for this information.
- VGH Emergency Operations Centre (EOC ) — Vancouver Acute relies on the VGH EOC to support emergency responses. During the exercise we’ll practice EOC activation, action planning, site communications support, site logistics support and communications between other participating hospital EOCs.
What can we expect at VGH?
At VGH, the exercise will be hands-on and involve:
- an undisclosed number of mock patients arriving at the ED (NOTE: mock patients will not be transferred to treatment areas)
- activating the Emergency Operations Centre and drawing on the operational and clinical expertise required to respond to the disaster
- units completing a census and staffing report
What can we expect at UBCH?
At UBCH, participation will be limited to what is known as a “tabletop” or “paper” exercise at the hospital’s incident command post. If you work at UBCH, you won’t be aware of anything different unless you’re required to attend the incident command post.
Who else is participating?
More than two dozen organizations representing a mix of airlines, first responders, government agencies and more are participating in the exercise. The other participating health care sites are:
- BC Children’s Hospital
- BC Women’s Hospital & Health Centre
- Richmond Hospital
- St. Paul’s Hospital
Questions?
Contact Danny Smutylo, emergency management coordinator for Vancouver Acute Services.