Minutes matter when lives are on the line- 12 minutes is not enough
In the heart-wrenching account of the 2011 Joplin, Missouri tornado, an Emergency Room doctor reveals how they had just 12 minutes from the time they first heard a tornado had been spotted to when the EF-5 tornado impacted the hospital, causing widespread devastation.
Twelve minutes—insufficient for a safe relocation of patients, visitors, and staff, or for the halt of surgeries. It's a critical timeframe, where swift decisions are paramount, especially in the healthcare arena, where minutes equate to the difference between life and death.
The Urgency of Planning
The gravity of an all-hazards approach to planning, be it hurricanes or any hazard across industries, cannot be overstated. Hospitals and healthcare facilities need to have an emergency plan that takes into account all potential hazards, both natural and man-made.
"We plan for if we lose power or we lose water; we plan for a lot of emergencies, but we never plan to just lose everything," John Farnen, Mercy's vice president of facilities said of the Joplin tornado.
READ MORE ⇒ TORNADOES 101: What is a tornado, and how can your business better prepare for one?
AccuWeather's SkyGuard® Notifications for Hospitals and Healthcare
Each healthcare facility has a unique operation with specific risks and needs, all of which require a customized plan of action. AccuWeather For Business will work with your emergency management team to identify those risks and implement a tailored service that reduces both the risk and liability of severe weather events.
Using AccuWeather's proven Superior Accuracy™, clients receive an advance notice that a major weather event is possible for the upcoming 6-10 days. This “tap on the shoulder” gives organizations time to implement their emergency plan and ensure they’re fully prepared and able to safely handle any severe weather event.
Once an event is underway, our meteorologists constantly monitor all client locations, with AccuWeather's SkyGuard Notifications, warnings providing enhanced safety to facilities through site-specific and threshold-specific warnings.
AccuWeather's tailored service for hospitals includes a two-tiered warning system. The early advisory allows hospitals to stage resources, start to move patients, and wrap up surgeries. Then, once a warning is issued, with 20-30 minutes of advance notice, final action can be taken to move everyone onsite to safety.
READ MORE ⇒ AccuWeather's SkyGuard a game-changer for children's hospital
Reduce False Alarms
We understand the time required, as well as the risks associated with moving patients to a shelter. Our proprietary "Null Tornado" notifications significantly reduce costly and unnecessary shutdowns or sheltering operations.
These notifications are sent when a public tornado warning is issued, but a tornado is NOT expected to impact a client’s location. Reducing the number of false alarms prevents warning fatigue, saves time and money, and ensures no reduction in patient care.
- Determine the hazards to which each of your locations is most vulnerable during a severe weather threat and review past events to determine improvements that can be made
- Perform a vulnerability assessment of all equipment, processes and operations
- Talk with insurance providers to ensure your business has the necessary types of coverage
- Coordinate preparedness activities with vendors, supply chain members and local partners
- Create a company-wide playbook for tropical systems that address operational vulnerabilities
Want to learn more about how AccuWeather's SkyGuard Notifications can help your hospital or healthcare facility better prepare for severe weather threats - including tornadoes? Demo SkyGuard today.
The AccuWeather Advantage
The benefits of AccuWeather go beyond protecting the lives of employees and customers. Businesses will also reduce operational costs through better planning and mitigation efforts, allowing you to make better weather-impacted decisions. AccuWeather forecasts will help you make the right decisions sooner and faster, keeping your people safer, saving you money overall, eliminating angst and stress, reducing your risk and liability, reducing losses, and better protecting your reputation.
AccuWeather’s track record of Superior Accuracy™ in weather forecasting and warnings has saved our clients tens of billions of dollars, saved the lives of employees and customers, and minimized reputational harm. Overall, for more than 60 years, AccuWeather has saved over 10,000 lives and prevented injuries to over 100,000 people, all beyond what has been done by the National Weather Service, the National Hurricane Center, and other weather sources.
