Emergency Preparedness

Kern Medical Emergency Operations Plan (EOP)

• Behavioral responses of patients to biological and chemical agents. b. General staff training will include: • Roles and responsibilities in a bioterrorism event. • Information and skills required to perform their assigned duties during the event. • Awareness of the backup communications systems used in a bioterrorism event. • The location of and how to obtain supplies, including Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) during a bioterrorism event. c. Hospital and other staff will receive periodic updates as new information becomes available 2.11 Public Information / Risk Communications 2.11.1 The Incident Commander will appoint a Public Information Officer ( PIO ) to coordinate the release of hospital information internally and externally to media and community. The PIO will develop an Incident Public Information Plan to guide hospital information dissemination and response to media and community inquiries following the incident. 2.11.1.1 This plan will include provisions for coordination with the County Public Information Officer and the Kern County Joint Information Committee (JIC) during an emergency to ensure availability of up-to-date information and consistency of released information. It will address the information needs of the hospital’s various ―publics that need to be considered when providing information. These stakeholders include community, patients, staff, volunteers and other interested parties. 2.11.1.2 The plan will define how the following information is gathered, verified, coordinated with the incident PIO , and communicated to communities served by the hospital and other stakeholders: • The nature and status of the emergency. • Appropriate actions for protection, seeking health care services, and obtaining needed information. • The status of the hospital and its ability to deliver services. Refer to Appendix P.5 – Information and Intelligence for guidance. 2.11.1.3 It will also include provisions for employee meetings, internal informational publications, press releases and other programs intended to disseminate accurate information regarding the event and its impact as well as deal with misinformation. 2.11.2 Kern Medical will incorporate incident preparedness information into its normal communications and education programs for staff and patients including: • Home and family preparedness. See Appendix I for guidelines. • Information on hospital emergency preparedness activities. Information dissemination channels for these activities include newsletters, pamphlets, health education and in-service education classes, and internet postings. 2.12 Training, Exercises and Plan Maintenance 2.12.1 Training (See Appendix G - Training and Exercises for general guidelines.) 2.12.1.1 Employee Orientation

All employees will learn the following information from their new employee orientation and/or subsequent safety training. This checklist will also be used to design facility-wide drills to test hospital emergency response capabilities. Employee essential knowledge and skills include:

30 | P a g e