Closing for weather isn’t option for medical facilities

Closing for weather isn’t option for medical facilities

Huey Freeman | Posted: Tuesday, February 1, 2011 11:50 pm |

DECATUR — Hospitals and medical clinics have emergency plans in place to cope with all manner of weather situations.
With a major storm looming Tuesday, Carmen Halsey, director of geriatric services for St. Mary’s Hospital, said the hospital planned to keep all services open.
“A lot of people have adjusted their appointment times to get ahead of the weather,” Halsey said.
The emergency plans include home health care visits. Home health care nurses have been looking ahead of all of the visits, getting them bumped up and make sure they have all their needs met.
The needs of all patients staying at the hospital are being addressed in relation to weather challenges.
“Discharge plans are looked at,” Halsey said, adding that assessments are being made regarding family support and transportation issues.
Anyone who may have problems at home could have a delayed discharge.
The same holds true at Decatur Memorial Hospital, said Ken Smithmier, president and CEO.
“We’re actually in pretty good shape,” he said. “Since we knew the forecast, we had extra food brought in. We have several extra days of food and laundry, and we pulled hospital beds out of the warehouse to put in unused space that staff can use. We put extra beds in private rooms to make them semi-private just in case some patients are ready to go home medically but because of conditions, they can’t.”
Smithmier expects some patients to cancel elective procedures, he said, but all of the hospital’s regular schedule will remain in place, and if critical personnel can’t get to the hospital, emergency services have offered to bring them to work.
Some dialysis patients, most of whom require onsite treatments three times each week, are being contacted to adjust their schedules.
“We are calling in our people to dialyze today who are scheduled for tomorrow, because we are concerned about the power,” Adele Curtis, dietician at Macon County Dialysis in Decatur, said Tuesday.
The dialysis patients are given disaster manuals, which tell them where they may receive treatment if the weather shuts down their usual facilities.
“We’re fortunate because we have another facility in town, the Eastwood Clinic,” Halsey said. “If Decatur is without power, we send them to outside facilities, such as Champaign, Springfield and Bloomington. There are also smaller facilities in Lincoln and Mattoon.”
Many dialysis patients depend on public transportation.
“If public transportation is down, we have other resources to make sure they get their treatments,” Curtis said. “We do have some people who use the ambulance service.”
To meet the needs of dialysis patients, the clinic is open every day but one throughout the year, to ensure they stay on schedule.
“The weather makes it tough, but we try to persevere,” Curtis said.
hfreeman@herald-review.com|
421-6985
Staff writer Valerie Wells contributed to this story.

http://www.herald-review.com/news/local/article_84d96a08-2e88-11e0-a9f2-001cc4c03286.html