As Hurricane Ian nears Florida, Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare — which has facilities in a number of East Coast and southern states — is putting storm preparedness plans into place to protect patients and employees.
HCA Healthcare has maintained a relationship with the hurricane forecasting service StormGeo, according to a Sept. 26 article on the health system's website. StormGeo anticipates 14 named storms in 2022 (five more than have been named thus far), including six hurricanes.
Here are steps the system is taking to weather storms:
- HCA Healthcare's Enterprise Emergency Operations Center, a 200-person incident response team in Nashville, is available 24/7 to support the system and analyze threats, the article said.
- HCA is prepared to redirect its supply chain to provide supplies to locations affected by the storm, according to the article. Temporary generators and bulk food and water supplies have already been stationed.
- HCA uses evacuNATE, an algorithm that triages patients and shows alternate care locations and decreases evacuation time, according to the article.
- HCA implemented extra training and regional pre-planning initiatives for on-the-ground teams. The system also added flight dispatch teams.
- HCA and Air Methods developed a NICU support team to transfer neonatal patients if needed.
- The EEOC allocates resources to HCA facilities each year to advance emergency preparedness.