HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1973-06-07, Page 17in The Listowel Bter', Th. W Advance -Times
Forest Confetiorate by W. r s,.cLimDD ,
The tornado that wreaked
havoc and rendered` many people
helpless and injured early Friday
morning, April 27 in Huron, Perth'
and Bruce Counties turned out to
be imaginary. The tornado *as
the invention of HOSCAD, which
is the disaster code word for Hos-
pitals of Community Activity and.
11 Disaster
Originally, there were to be
-twelve hospitals takingpart in.
the staged "disaster". All but
two, Wingham and, District Hos- `''
pital and the Seaforth Communi-
ty Hospital, opted out until the
next exercise, planned for the
fall.
IS The disaster exercise in April
was designed to test the effective -
tress of emergency .measures in
• the event that the real thing
should occur.
Administrator of the Wingham
and District, Hospital, 'MTs. I, E.
Morrey, says HOSCAD became a
reality early last fall. "Back in
the beginning of last fall we (the
ja 12 area hr.spitals of Kincardine,
Walkerton, ,Hanover, Mount For
est, Palmerston, Listowel, Sea -
forth, Exeter, Clinton, Goderich
Psychiatric Hospital and Alex-
andra Marine and General Hos-
pital) started haying meetings so
that we could compile the infor-
mation from each of these hospi-
tals and find out what their re-
sources were; how much blood
plasma they had on hand, theirl' r'gichi learn beds, av�ya�14,1
IN
Ming by" the high :school studen
volunteers so they realistically
,resembled casualties, Mrs. Mor
rex cites the obvious enthusiasm
of the Wingham. students who
volunteered' for the disaster
exercise. "We asked for about 50
and there were about. 75 who
volunteered. Twenty of them
were. Made up as real severe
casualties and 20 were to be made
up as transfers from the victims'
area, which was Listowel. And
the rest .were walking casual.
ties.'
Both exercises, the one in
Wingham and, the one in Seaforth
came out with flying colors. Each
member of the disaster plan was
synchronized with the others, re-
sulting in an^ overall picture of ef-
ficient disaster control and treat-
ment. "It 'was aIle co-ordinated
very well. The doctors responded
beautifully.. It gave us a good
exercise.. We learned a lot. We
were a little congested in what is.
called the triage or sorting area,.
because there were so " many
photographers and . people who
wanted. to see what was going on.
ordinarily they wouldn't be in to
see, in a real disaster."
All contacts are made before a
disaster strikes.. Emergency
measures are"constantly being
made and reviewed,. so that when
the tragedy does occur, HOSCAD
will never be left without an ace
up its sleeve the use of helicop-
t ters hal not been overlooked
Mrs. Morrey explains, "Abbot's,
r- one of the places we buy intra.-
venous solutions from would fiy
up a good order from Toronto by
helicopter. We've made arrange-
ments with those people. Our
• various other suppliers would do
• the same thing because they can
land in one of the.fiel'ds out at the
high' school; or they can even land
in our own back parking lot
here," •
In the event of a prolonged dis-
aster period over a possible four
or five days, the staff is ready.
Mrs. Morrey says =there would be
few problems in that area. "Our
staff is prepared to work twelve.
hours a day and extra staff can be
called in. Each person knows his
own job,"
The . Wingham and,. District
Hospital had its own disaster plan
but the additional task of supply-
ing other hospitals and combat-
ing a disaster in a joint effort was
a comparative pilot project.
There are only three hospitals
that have an accredited disaster
plan. These are Wingharn, Sea -
forth and Exeter. In order to have
a recognized disaster plan, a hos-
pital must take active part in a
disaster simulation such as the
one undergone by the Wingham
and Seaforth hospitals. Another
disaster exercise is scheduled
either . this fall or early next
spring. It is hoped that more hos-
. pitais will take par,,
gram at that time.,
The disaster WO
with .fake wounds and
knowledgeably administer
Mrs. Roberts, But the ;Vaca
and emergency measures
hospitals involved Were+
real. The Winghan, and ;
hospitals have proven they
ready for any unexpected't
ter. There is only one probl
Are the patients ready?
po #ce fact ities, a yt tug' „`that
had to do with any' disaster at
all."
An accredited disaster pro-
gram requires the closest com-
munication possible of all emer-
gency services. One large plus
factor is the ham radio operator
in the event -of a disaster where
telephone communication is hin-
dered.
•
•
Mrs. Morrey said, "We .spent
•
months and months making these
plans, meeting with ham opera-
tors, because they play a• large
role in this. We might'have a dis-
aster such as we tried to simste
this last time where a tornado
would strike out telephone wires
. . so the ham operators con-
tribute a great deaL Most towns
have at least two, although
some just have one. They would
be available in the event of a
large disaster." .
Realistic Casualties
Advisor for the exercise was
Julie Roberts of the provincial
• ministry of'health, Toronto. Mrs.
Roberts was id charge of "mak-
Huron plowing
match Sept: 15 .
Huron Plowmen's Asst cit
46th annual plowing match',
be held on September. 10,
Township on the Howard Data;
farm, Lot 5, Concession 12 "-one"t'.
mile north of Dashwood.
A coaching day.; is planned for
September 14, when ex pii it
coaches will be on hand
advice on the proper way, to se.
plow in order to make the j
of plowing.
Plans are completed to hold;
draw for a carcass of beef.valu
at $450 -First prize, half of ' zt
carcass; second prize, hind qu.�_
ter; third prize, front4quarter , WLL
A meeting has been called ofW'
the agricultural organizations,:
fair board and county council, for
June 28th at 8:30 in the cafeteria ,
o Central Huron Secondary;
School, Clinton, to discuss .1
>! -o hoathn
EMERGENCY PROCEDURES --The Wingham and Dis-
s it z.. m gens unit is VOX trams i fors thin
tendants are Eric. Cleave, Reginall
ambylahr a iCll
A
'Oh ftenda_ ^•
11 'o
the siren
Jidt•
THE AMBULANCE AWAITS—Louise Marshall emer gency
vehicles await the call for medical assistance. The emer-
gency room has the standard equipment used in the treat-
ment of ambulatory patients. (Staff Photo)
MERV RAINEY, ambulance supervisor at Louise Marshall Hospital in Mount Forest,
demonstrates the use of a grid and a computer in the pinpointing of accident sites. The
exact location is known, with the aid of this device, before the ambulance leaves the
hospital. (Staff Photo)
"The call comes in here and we
dispatch the ambulance unit.
They go to the scene and, if pos-
sible, they tell us how many are
. injured and so on." Mery Rainey,
ambulance supervisor at Louise
Marshall Hospital in Mount For-
est outlines the initial procedure
that quite often aves many lives
of unfortunate accident victims
and others in need of emergency
medical attention. The emer-
gency unit's job is to get to the
scene of an accident as quickly as
possible, but once there the job is
just beginning.
"Once the unit is at the scene
and we feel we require more
units, if it is between here and
Arthur or south of town, we call in -
Fergus or Drayton to send units
up to assist us. If it's north we call
Durham Hospital and we work to-
gether." Mr. Rainey cites that
working together with other
nearby hospitals results in a
speedier answer to emergency
calls, and ultimately saves more
lives.
The spine -tingling screech of a
siren rending the still night air is
something that makes all of us
shudder as it tears its way by us,
but that same siren is p blessing
to the many who hang on for its
arrival during those unexpected
moments of need.
After the call is sent out and the
ambulance has arrived, warning
is sent back to the emergency
department of the hospital with
information as to how many vic-,
tims need emergency treatment
and what treatment must be pre-
pay d when the patient arrives.
When the patient is rushed
back to the emergency depart-
ment and the equipment and
competent personnel go to work.
Director of Nursing Mrs. J.
Funston describes the emergen-
cy room. "The outpatient depart-
ment is set up as a minor operat-
ing room. We do have the regular
operating mon') too, if we need it. so
We have a well-equipped X-ray to
department with moveable X-ray dl
equipment that can be transport-
ed if w have to."
Disaster Plan a
Daily emergencx operations th
are quite separate from the dis- e
aster plan, such as the one set up c
in the Wingham hospital. Mrs. m
I unston explains, "I was in- f
volved in a disaster plan about he
five years ago in Guelph when sit
they first started setting them,
and you have to set up somethi
like a field hospital, such as th
lead in war time. You go fro
there and sort people out a
treat them according to their i
juries and involve all of the loc
people. You involve people li
Boy Scouts and firemen."'
Mr. Rainey, ambulance supe
visor, attended showings of th
disaster plans at Wingham an
Seaforth. "There were two hosp
tals, mainly, taking part in th
plan. There was one operation
Seaforth and one at Wingham. A
Seaforth they had 27 high schoo
students. who were made to loo
like casualties. They arrived a
the hospital by bus, all at once, s
there was quite a task for th
staff there, but they pulled
through the situation very well,"
A good deal of knowledge was
obtained through this demon-
stration at Seaforth, indicating to
the staff at Louise Marshall what
they can expect in a large-scale
crisis such as the staged emer-
gency involving the students.
"One of the problems we noticed
• was that they were well organiz-
ed for the major things, but it was
the little things that sometimes
caused the problems, little things
that ordinarily when you're plan-
ning you forget. But by having
that chance to view it gave us an
opportunity to be more familiar
with problems that can come
up "
Odd but true, the biggest prob-
lem, at times, is not the treat-
ment of the patients but assuring
and relaxing their relatives. Mrs.
Funston says of this occasional
predicament, "One of the prob-
lems in a big disaster which
people probably forget is all the
relatives showing up. Trying to
cope with the relatives and trying
to give them satisfaction is hard.
And not only are they there, but
they are milling around and this
rt of thing which you can't pic=
re until you've been in the mid -
e of it."
Manpower
In adisaster plan which is quite
part from the emergency unit of
e hospital on a daily basis,
ex manpower is imperative. it
ould come from factories where
any men could be obtained or
tom high schools, where much
l
p could be found for a disaster
caution in which more stretcher
saving of a
up . carriers are required. It is also
ng imperative that these people are
ey placed on call, being forewarned.
m that in the event of 'a large-scale
nd disaster they may be called in for
n- service.
al Future plans of the Louise
ke Marshall staff involve a closer
look at emergency equipment
r- and procedures in a disaster
e period.
d Mr. Rainey says, "The plan we
i- have for the future, sometime
e later this year as far as these
at area hospitals are concerned, is
t to have this emergency equip -
1 ment set up so that the staff for
k the various hospitals can go and
t view it. They can then see how
o it's put together and have an idea
e of what it is like. Then they hope
to have another, possibly next
year, disaster affecting all the
hospitals in the area."
Computer Pinpoints Location
The advent of the computer age
may have its undesirable effects,
but for the purposes of finding
exactly where the scene of an ac-
cident is, it has proven to be in-
valuable. Mr. Rainery explained
what the system does and how it blankets to bandaids, with every
functions. " conceivable piece of equipment
"Our calls are all read by com- that .ciuld be needed in extreme
puters now. We have forms we fill. •emergency until the patient is
out and the computer • reads all rushed back to hospital, 11 more
than two men ars needed• extra
are always available and, in.
situations that require it, the
presence of a Registered nurse at
the scene of the emergency can
also be readily provided.
In large cities where the mam-
moth population means more ac-
cidents, people grow accustomed
to living with the sound of a
screaming siren, racing against
time, because there are no sec-
onds to spare when a person's life
may be at stake. In the more
rural areas the sirens are not
heard as much. But, in both areas
the dash against passible death is
greatly important and extremely
needed. Without a good ambu-
lance service a hospital is only
half a hospital and without quali-
fied ambulatory personnel and
trained emergency attendants
and nurses the race against time
and the life saving attempts are
no more than a cross-country car
race.
The smooth running emergen-
cy operation is the one that imple-
ments the qualified ambulatory
personnel and the medically
competent nursipg staff in the
emergency ward when the
patient arrives at the hospital.
Hospital staff such as Mery
Rainey, Mrs. J. Funston and
Emergency Department nurse,
Mrs. Johnson, are working each
day to ensure that the desperate
cry of the siren does not go un-
heard.
occasions by number. The prov-
ince is broken up into ten square
mile patches and these are read
by the computer in a . four digit
number. Then, by the use of a
grid, (system of numbered
squares printed on a military
map, etc.) the area is broken up
into one square mile and the one
square mile is read by a two digit
number. The mile, in turn, is
broken up into a quarter square
mile and it is read by the compu-
ter. B -y having the location. read
by the township, the concession
and the lot number, we are able
• to pinpoint a call before we leave
the hospital so that if additional
help is needed we would know
which is the best -located hospital
to call on."
The emergency vehicles sent
out on a call are usually manned
with two experienced and trained
ambulatory staff. The ambulance
is equipped with everything from
AMBULANCE PINPOINTED—The whereabouts of the
ambulance is always known by the hospital by Use of a
board that keeps in constant touch with the ambulatory
staff to know of the victims' conditions and how many
patient will be brought in. (Staff Photo)
V)
U.S. farm income
from meat is up
Gross farm income from meat
animals in the U.S. for 1972
totalled $24.3 billion, an all-time
high and 23 per cent above 1971.
Gross return-6'1rom hogs were up
31 per cent as prices jumped
sharply in view of reduced
supplies. Cattle marketings and
prices were up, giving a 21 per
cent jump in income over a year t
ago. Farm production of meat
animals in 1972 was 64.0 billion `
pounds, up one per cent from a
year ago. Cattle and calf produc-
tion gained five per cent, hog out-
put was six per cent lower, as was
sheep and lamb production.