Erlanger Health System's Emergency Protocols Worked Well During Water Main Break Crisis

  • Thursday, September 19, 2019

As Chattanooga residents woke up last Friday to news of a water main break in the downtown area, Erlanger Health System was already making preparations for the long day ahead.  Medical and operational staff were on alert evaluating the water situation and preparing for the worst case scenario. 

 

Water is an exceptionally important utility for a hospital system.

It is not only used in sanitizing and hydrating for patients and staff, it is also used to keep the AC and chilling system running.  These systems are not only for comfort but are also required to keep critical equipment such as CT, MRI and Interventional Suites functioning. 

 

With all the areas that use water at Erlanger’s facilities in mind, the emergency committee began protocols to maintain water levels and pressure at the facilities and ensure water would be delivered to the areas that needed it the most.  Business would continue without any disruption to patient care with options such as bottled water, tanks of water, water trucks, portable sinks and toilets, disposable supplies, boiling water, reducing non-emergent services, ordering a 5 ton chiller, and working with other partners for patient transport and care if there were any evacuations. 

 

Any water that was used in food services was boiled in the kitchens.  Several areas saw a reduction in menu items and began serving cold sandwiches and bottles of water.  Paper products were also distributed to conserve water.  Pallets of water were delivered to the loading dock.  Bottled water was also distributed to eKids daycare.  Not only was the day care still open for current students, employees with school-aged children who were impacted by school closures were also welcomed at eKids while parents worked. 

 

Erlanger’s partnerships, such as Sodexo, played a huge role in ensuring the safety of patients.  The lab received dry ice to keep supplies cool, communicated with area blood banks for ample supply of blood and had a backup plan to send items to Erlanger East if needed.  Patient transport was also on standby if necessary to send patients such as NICU patients to East or other facilities.

 

“We had an outstanding response from the children’s hospitals outside the region,” said Don Mueller, CEO of Children’s Hospital at Erlanger.  “We were prepared to relocate all of the patients at Children’s if needed.”

 

Sanitary conditions were maintained with hand sanitizers, portable sinks, portable toilets and buckets of water to help with manual flushing. 

 

“We cannot express enough how appreciative Erlanger is for the quick response from all of our staff and contracted workers to ensure patient care and safety were not impacted from the water main break,” said Gregg Gentry, Erlanger’s chief administrative officer. “This situation was a true testament of how partnerships come together in time of need and have resources available should we face the worst case scenario.”

 

“We would be remiss not to thank the Hamilton County Emergency Management for supplies and resources as well as all the community agencies that worked quickly to identify the waterline break, executed plans to keep Erlanger’s water maintained, and repair the break so that the hospital system as well as the area businesses and residents are back online,” said Robbie Tester, Erlanger’s vice president of Operations.

 

Despite maintaining and conserving water and ensuring the safety of Erlanger’s patients during the 3½ day event, 11 emergent surgeries remained in progress on Friday morning, over 220 patients had other surgeries and procedures within the health system following the initial response, 1,279 patients were seen at East, Baroness, Children’s and North emergency rooms and nearly 100 patients were seen at our four local Express Cares. All elective surgeries and procedures were cancelled and are currently in the rescheduling process. 

 

Dr. William Jackson, president and CEO of Erlanger, also expressed his gratitude for the Medical Staff. “We are grateful for all of our medical professionals supporting Erlanger’s departments and ensuring continuity of care during the event.” 

 

“At the end of the day, this event highlights the importance of disaster preparation in its various forms as the team came together calmly and efficiently to ensure the hospital and trauma center remained open even when there was a loss of utility services in our city,” said Adam Royer, Erlanger’s assistant vice president of Surgical Services.

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