Ten years ago this month, a software bug in an Ohio company's control room caused a widespread, multi-day blackout, affecting 45 million Americans across eight states on the East Coast and through parts of the upper Midwest.
Many hospitals in the area were affected as well, including all four hospitals operated by Oakwood Healthcare, based in Dearborn, Mich. "I remember a loud boom and black smoke," says Maureen D'Agostino, senior vice president of quality services and performance excellence at Oakwood Healthcare. "Then the whole area went black."
"Each of our hospitals had unique issues," says Ms. D'Agostino. One hospital lost water flow, and at another, the blackout blew out the controlling switchboard for the backup generators. "At that hospital, we had to have men pushing on a pump 24 hours a day to keep the generators going," she says.
At another hospital, the doors in the inpatient mental health unit, which were electric, couldn't be secured. "We needed volunteers to come in and keep the patients occupied" for the duration of the blackout, she says.
However, "the biggest challenge was really that we couldn't communicate between hospitals," says Ms. D'Agostino. The blackout rendered cell phone towers useless and limited all the methods of communications Oakwood Healthcare had. "We therefore didn't know the gravity of what was happening at each hospital."
"When the power came back on three and a half days later, it was all about what to do to make sure this never happens again," says Ms. D'Agostino.
Below are three best practices utilized by Oakwood Healthcare to limit the negative impact of a blackout.
1. Make sure there will always be fuel. All hospitals have backup generators, but they require fuel that may not be readily available during an extended, far-reaching blackout. Without enough fuel to last through the emergency, even the best generators will fail, says Ms. D'Agostino. To ensure adequate fuel supply in an emergency, she recommends forging agreements with fuel suppliers to make the hospital a top priority. "We needed agreements that made sure we'd be the first to get what we need to take care of our patients," she says.
Robert Kenyon, executive vice president of national supplier Atlas Oil, responded to the needs of many of the hospitals that were affected. Many of these hospitals had agreements in place with Atlas to receive fuel priority. "The folks that had fuel supply agreements in place just needed to give us a call, those without had a longer response time," he says.
Many hospitals have backup power systems in place, says Mr. Kenyon, but not a contract with someone to keep them supplied with fuel, and that will dedicate a strategic reserve to them. In addition to fuel for generators, hospitals need fuel for emergency response vehicles and even for their employees' cars so staff members can get to work. "A contract like this will help a hospital know they will still be able to operate their business," he says.
"Additionally, hospitals need to ally with suppliers that can get fuel from multiple sources," says Mr. Kenyon. A blackout or other regional disaster may compromise a local supplier's ability to get fuel. "The supplier down the street might be as devastated as you are," he says.
2. Design redundant technology systems. Following the blackout, Oakwood Healthcare invested $100,000 in multi-tiered communications systems. "Now, if one part goes down, we have another part to use," says Ms. D'Agostino. The new systems include satellite phones, two-way radios and the corresponding infrastructure that can allow any administrators to communicate.
"And, if all else fails, we have clearance from [the U.S. Department of] Homeland Security to use their satellite with our phones," says Ms. D'Agostino.
The hospital also installed command centers at each hospital, so any hospital in the system can serve as headquarters in the event of an emergency. "When these systems are brought up, they can connect the whole system in a conference or allow for one-on-one communicating," says Ms. D'Agostino.
3. Link with the community. Ms. D'Agostino stresses the importance of participating in community preparedness drills and working with local disaster response teams. Oakwood Healthcare currently participates in statewide disaster training and is connected to Michigan's state volunteer registry for extra hands to help in the event of an emergency. "Every hospital in the country is tied to a region within the state for disaster preparation," says Ms. D'Agostino. "Everyone should take full advantage of the education, funds and other resources offered by local agencies."
"Every hospital should understand being able to care for the community is why they exist in the first place," she adds. "We take disaster preparation seriously — we know we'd be letting down both our patients and the community if we couldn't manage in an emergency."
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