Are you Ready?

As Healthcare Changes, So Do We

Welcome to the premier edition of Points of Contact, an e-newsletter (formerly known as The Dispatch)

Since launching in 2009, DisastersNet has helped more than 100 hospitals be ready for the unexpected. The Dispatch was one way of doing that. But there are dynamic changes underway in the world of healthcare and, in order to reflect those changes, we’re not just changing our newsletter, we’re changing our name and expanding our services.

Starting today, DisastersNet is ReadyPoint – an organization solely focused on helping hospitals improve processes that enhance quality and safety. For hospitals, the demands for quality, accountability and transparency grow more intense every day.

We want to help your organization be ready to face these challenges.

ReadyPoint is anchored by two core technologies

StandTo – Formerly our Disaster Incident Management System (DIMS) that helps more than 100 hospitals fully automate their emergency training exercises and manage any unplanned event – from tornados to flu pandemics to water leaks. Learn More

EyeOn – A new technology built on the same platform as StandTo that helps hospitals manage all aspects of the care environment – from hand washing compliance to patient tracers and much more – while also facilitating compliance with protocols that lead to better, safer care. Learn More

Though our name has changed, our technologies – old and new alike – are marked by the same attributes you’ve come to expect from us: Precision, Flexibility and Ease of Use.

Are You Ready?

Over the next several weeks, we will be calling to talk with you about our name change and our new technologies. If we can help fulfill an urgent need, please call 866.506.1930.

And, you can found out more by visiting readypointsystems.com.

St. John’s Regional – Joplin, Missouri

A preparedness story

St. John’s Regional Hospital in Joplin took a direct hit from an EF-4/5 tornado in May. Though it was not completely destroyed, the facility was damaged to the point that it will have to be rebuilt. However, despite the nightmare scenario, only five patients were lost. St. John’s patients didn’t die from flying debris or from being crushed. They died because they lost life-sustaining support when the power system failed and the back-up generator was sucked out of the building.

Back-up generators are a problem. If you locate them in the basement, you worry about flooding. If you locate them on the roof, you worry about losing them the way St. John’s did. When Phoebe Sumpter Regional Hospital in Americus, Georgia was took a direct hit from a tornado in 2007, the entire building was destroyed, but the back-up generator, which was located in the basement, survived.

So we pose these question to the readership:
Where is the best place for locating your back-up generator?
What is the best plan for dealing with the loss of a back-up generator?

St. John’s poses some more interesting problems and we’ll be following their story very closely. Next month we’ll have a look at how they are managing having to rebuild the hospital from the ground up. Does incident preparedness training allow you to be better prepared to rebuild? If so, what is the plan?