Courtesy
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| Floods
can severely handicap hospitals that use their basements
to house vital supplies and equipment. |
The Methodist Hospital in Houston was among several
to declare internal disasters in June 2001 when Tropical
Storm Allison dumped as much as 20 inches of rain on
the city in a 24-hour period.
Methodist, like other hospitals that have either been
through disasters or drilled for them, has learned from
its experience and taken measures to better handle the
next disaster.
Basement flooding destroyed the hospital's pharmacy,
three MRIs, nuclear cameras, food preparation areas
and millions of dollars worth of supplies. The hospital
lost its air conditioning, water and elevators, and
had to evacuate critically ill patients to a nearby
hospital via a sky bridge.
The amount of rain that fell on the city that day occurs
on average once every 100 years. But Methodist, like
others in the renowned Texas Medical Center, home to
more than 40 health care facilities, isn't taking any
chances. It's prepared in case Mother Nature ignores
statistics and delivers the next 100-year rainfall ahead
of schedule.
Doug Rand, who became director of facilities at the
hospital two days after Allison hit, said one of the
most important lessons learned was how vital it is for
hospitals in the Texas Medical Center to communicate.
"The first thing that was learned was that the
ability to communicate was compromised and since we
are adjacent to other entities and their facilities,
it was important that we get together as a group of
hospitals," he said.
Some hospitals, including Methodist, had perimeter
flood protection systems in place, but it was quickly
learned that hospitals that activated their systems
first jeopardized their neighbors by forcing water their
way. So, after the floods, representatives from each
hospital came up with a procedure that calls for them
to activate their flood protection systems at the same
time.
The systems will be activated when the water in a nearby
culvert reaches a specific level. The culvert is monitored
24 hours a day via a camera that broadcasts the water
reading over the Internet. Furthermore, personnel at
each hospital have been trained to activate all the
flood protection systems in case one or more hospitals
needs help.
That shouldn't happen at Methodist. Enough facilities
people are on hand at all times to implement the new
flood prevention measures. Those measures include submarine
doors in the basement levels that can be closed and
sealed with inflatable rubber bladders to prevent water
from adjacent hospitals, which are connected by underground
corridors, from flooding their neighbors. Methodist
is connected to two hospitals and three other health
care facilities by 9-foot-wide, 10-foot-high corridors.
Other measures include a 24-hour wireless radio dedicated
communication system to allow staffers to communicate
with one another in case the hospital's telephone lines
and Internet connection go out.
Memorial Hermann Hospital was hardest hit by the flood.
The hospital evacuated patients by air and ground ambulance
when flood damage forced it to close.
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