Bon Secours and Canterbury Partnership for Care’s hospitals have always had a disaster preparedness plan in place, but Sept. 11 and its aftermath dramatically altered the definition of disaster.
According to Rick Evans, the vice president of Mission Services for Bon Secours, the health care system has spent hundreds of thousands dollars of its own money to prepare for any future mass catastrophe.
Bon Secours operates St. Mary Hospital in Hoboken, Jersey City’s Christ Hospital, and St. Francis Hospital.
Since Sept. 11, all aspects of the hospitals’ capacity to deal with chemical, nuclear, and biological disasters have been scrutinized and strengthened. The first step was to totally rewrite the system’s disaster plan, which was done just days after Sept. 11.
Dr. Anglo Caprio, Bon Secours medical disaster coordinator, said recently that because of Hudson County’s proximity to New York City, the area’s hospitals have to be ahead of the curve when it comes to preparedness.
"September 11 dramatically changed the lives of everyone in the United States," said Caprio. "These changes and improvements are an absolute necessity and are needed to keep up with the times." Caprio is a commander in the Navy Reserves, served in the Gulf War in as a Marine doctor, and was selected as one of New Jersey Monthly Magazine’s "People of the Year" in regards to how he helped people on Sept. 11.
The new disaster plan was written by the health system’s newly formed Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) Task Force. The NBC task force is made up of doctors, nurses and hospital administrators. "Before September 11 our disaster plan was nothing more than an abstract document," added Caprio. "Now it is based on real experience."
On Sept. 11, Caprio led St. Mary Hospital’s efforts to establish a triage center in front of the Hoboken Train Terminal. That day, more than 10,400 people were decontaminated for possible biological or chemical contaminants. The process included hosing down every person who came off the ferry and into the triage area.
Setting up the triage is the initial step taken to meet the main objectives of disaster response, which involve sorting the injured according to the severity of their condition and determining what resources to employ, such as personnel, equipment, medications, ambulances, and hospital beds.
According to Caprio, the Hoboken field hospital was manned for over 23 hours, more than 2,300 people were treated at the triage center, and more than 200 were shuttled to St. Mary’s Emergency Room. From those visits, more the 20 people were admitted to the hospital.
"The old adage of heaven, hell, or Hoboken once again came to fruition on September 11," said Caprio. "While I am extremely proud of the efforts of the doctors, nurses and emergency personnel that day, we don’t want to rest on our laurels."
Caprio added that it was the experiences of that day that prompted and guided the hospital system to overhaul its disaster preparedness plans and practices.
What they did
Bon Secours went out and purchased three $17,000 decontamination units, the first of their kind ever purchased in New Jersey. Evans describes the units as a "human car washes" that clean chemical or biological agents from a person’s body. In addition to the decontamination units, the health care system purchased 14 $285 hazardous material protective suits.
It also became evident on Sept.11 that doctors and medical workers could not rely on cell phones as a primary commutation device. On Sept. 11, when cell phones were not functioning, the triage effort ran off a single landline at Texas Arizona Restaurant, located across the street from the PATH. Since then, Bon Secours upgraded its portable commutation equipment and bought high-quality two-way radios.
More impressive than the purchasing of equipment were the lengths the hospital went to train its employees. According to Mary DeAngelo, the nurse manger of the St. Mary’s emergency room and Bon Secours assistant coordinator of disaster response, before Sept. 11 only eight Bon Secours employees were fully trained in decontamination procedures. Since that time, more than 250 or 99 percent of all Bon Secours employees have completed decontamination classes.
"The purpose of the classes is to make sure that every employee understands the decontamination process and to make sure that they are able to go out and work in the [Hazardous Material] suits," said DeAngelo. According to DeAngelo, the staff of any Bon Secours hospital can set up a decontamination unit in five minutes and 20 seconds. The medical workers are also now able to step up a fully functioning field hospital in seven to 10 minutes.
According to DeAngelo, another important aspect of implementing a disaster response plan is making sure there is cooperation between state, county, and city personnel. "Effective communication is the key," said DeAngelo. "For it to all work it is imperative that there is a collaborative effort between the hospital, police, the fire department, and EMS workers."
The health care system has been working with the police and fire departments to coordinate all training and procedures in case during an emergency there is lag time caused by miscommunication between different authorities.