Hospital Preparedness Program
Virginia Hospitals and the Regional Hospital Coordinating Center (RHCC) activated healthcare system incident command systems during the 2009 Presidential Inauguration. As part of the activation, the RHCC addressed and planned for the implementation of altered standards of care. Diversion and surge plans, procedures, and protocols were in place to ensure medical treatment for populations requiring specialized assistance:
- District of Columbia (DC) Fire/EMS made approximately 200 transports to area hospitals during the event, notably higher than the planning estimate of 100 transports per million attendees. Of these 200 transports, 13 were routed to Virginia.
- The movement of patients and hospital status were tracked and posted using the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association (VHHA) Web Emergency Operations Center (WebEOC) site. A total of 72 patients were registered in the WebEOC system.
Efforts were coordinated with Federal, state, regional and local partners, including those associated with Emergency Support Function 8 - Public Health and Medical Services to ensure that adequate staff and medical equipment were in place. Emergency staffing needs were assessed against the Concept of Operations to identify potential surge and special needs situations; to provide treatment appropriate to the nature of the incident. The adequacy of medical equipment and supplies were evaluated prior to the event and arrangements for the deployment of a Federal Medical Station to Arlington, VA were established. State personnel and facility assets were placed on standby in the event a Strategic National Stockpile deployment to Virginia was necessary (Push Pack or Managed Inventory).
