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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.