MISSION

The mission of the Center for Emergency Preparedness is to lead the emergency preparedness and response efforts of The George Washington University Hospital. Utilizing an interdisciplinary approach, the Center draws on the combined assets and expertise of the GW University Hospital, the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, the School of Public Health and Health Services, GW University, and the Medical Faculty Associates, enabling the Center for Emergency Preparedness to help prepare the nation to meet today’s threats and public health crises, and those still emerging.

INITIATIVES

Hazards analysis and resource assessment

Understanding regional risk is an important component of disaster preparedness. Integrating the collective expertise of subject matter experts, the Center was able to develop a regional hazards analysis matrix for the GWU Hospital to serve as a planning platform for crisis preparations. In addition, the Center is developing a database of critical resources and staff to be integrated into planning concepts.

Robust communications infrastructure

The Center recognizes the critical role that communications play in any disaster. In conjunction with the hospital’s Emergency Management Committee, the Center constantly analyzes the communications process and makes recommendations for augmentation in order to create a robust and redundant communications infrastructure that will withstand the demands and complexities of a regional disaster..

Operational actions for national alert levels

The Department of Homeland Security’s national alert level program is an indicator of the current perceived threat level in the United States. However, changes in alert level are difficult for healthcare providers to interpret from an operational standpoint. The Center has developed operational action items that correspond with national alert levels to allow for an organized, graded response in the healthcare system to alert level changes.

Surge capacity

Nursing shortages, ED overcrowding, and hospital downsizing due to fiscal constraints are rate limiting steps to routine patient care in a finite capacity healthcare system. Creating surge capacity for mass casualty events is a challenge embraced by the Center. Important avenues that have been incorporated into planning include recruitment of off-site medical facilities, creative repurposing of existing hospital space, stockpiling of surge capacity supplies, and development of MOU’s with local businesses.

Regional collaboration

The Center for Emergency Preparedness at GW believes strongly that the key to regional response capability is a collaborative, integrated approach, requiring cooperation between hospitals, the public health system, and federal, state and local response agencies. To that end, the Center has actively sought collaboration with entities such as regional hospitals, the DC Department of Health, the DC Hospital Association, DC Fire and EMS, and the Emergency Management Agency. By establishing memorandums of understanding, mutual aid agreements, and communications algorithms, the District of Columbia strives to enhance regional preparedness for mass casualty events.

Research

The Center serves as a central coordinating mechanism for disaster preparedness related research in the GW system. Dr. Catlett has served as the Principle Investigator or Investigator on $750,000 in grants from both the AHRQ and the CDC, on topics including bioterrorism preparedness, training of clinicians to respond to bioterrorism, development of a tool to evaluate hospital disaster drills, and media communication of bioterrorism topics.

Training and education

An essential mission of the Center for Emergency Preparedness is to ensure the education of its clinicians and staff on topics such as biological, chemical, and radiological terrorism, the incident command system, and proper use of personal protective equipment. Multiple educational modes are being developed for 2006, including web-based educational modules, disaster publications for staff, and skill-specific training videos and workshops. Disaster drills and exercises are also an important component of training for the both the hospital and the National Capitol Region.

The Center has hosted many regional training programs, including media training for bioscientists; Community Emergency Response Training, a component of Citizen Corps; and incident management, crisis communications, WMD, and first responder/public health interface training for the DC Department of Health.

The Center’s Executive Director, Dr. Catlett, has taught both nationally and internationally on topics include healthcare system disaster preparedness and response, response to chemical and radiological terrorism, personal preparedness, and corporate preparedness.

Disaster Response

The George Washington University has a strong sense of commitment to both national and international crisis response. The Center for Emergency Preparedness strongly believes that in order to prepare for disasters effectively, it must learn from disaster response. To this end, the Center’s Director, Dr. Catlett, has led medical response missions to Grand Cayman (Hurricane Ivan), Haiti, New Orleans (Hurricane Katrina), and southwestern Louisiana (Hurricane Rita). Lessons learned from these missions have been applied to response planning at the George Washington University Hospital.