With no precedent, Jeff Absalon, MD, executive vice president and chief physician executive of St. Charles Health System in Bend, Ore., said hospital leaders turned to their counterparts in a small South Dakota town that attracts an average of 1 million people for an annual motorcycle rally.
“One of the key things that we learned was that the need for acute care services oftentimes just mimics the increase in the population,” said Dr. Absalon. This means there will most likely be more patients with food poisoning, broken bones, strokes and heart attacks, and more emergency surgeries for traumatic injuries.
Hospital systems including St. Charles Health System, Salem (Ore.) Health and Samaritan Health Services in Corvallis, Ore., are stocking up on extra supplies — everything from extra gauze and saline solution, to rattlesnake bite antidote, blood supplies and other pharmaceuticals to accommodate for the influx of visitors, the report states. Health facilities also plan to cancel elective surgeries and increase the number of people on staff during the week leading up to and following the eclipse.
Salem Health will serve as a joint command center, allowing the health system and 11 other hospitals in the region to communicate during the event. The health system will also set up three air-conditioned tents outside its emergency room Aug. 16 to handle demand. The tents will house makeshift triage centers and sobering stations. Practitioners will also be able to treat patients in the tents, according to the report.
“[The eclipse presents] an invaluable exercise,” said Joseph Hutchinson, director of emergency management, safety and security for Samaritan Health Services. “You can’t get better training for emergency preparedness.”
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