"The Ronan Report" provides insight about the activities at the Western Maryland Health System in Cumberland, Maryland, and about the changes taking place in healthcare today from a CEO's perspective.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

After the Hurricane

Throughout yesterday, last night and into this morning, everyone at WMHS was exceptional related to planning for and working through the hurricane.  The Governor declared a state of emergency for the entire state; and when that happens, you have a responsibility to keep people (patients and staff) out of harm’s way.  There are always some who want it to be business as usual in order to accommodate their personal needs, schedule and / or income.  However, everyone has to understand the uncertainty of a storm; in this case, a deadly hurricane.  We have no idea as to how much rain, how much wind or if it will be rain vs. snow.  We were on the fringe of this hurricane being devastating for the area; but fortunately, we dodged a very big bullet.  Actually, the land hurricane in July was more severe for our area. 

When you are involved in disaster planning, you have to plan for the worst.  Our staff travel from well into southwestern PA and a number of counties in WV, along with Garrett County, which ended up with over a foot of snow.  Their safety is our concern, especially in a state of emergency.  Power bumps or the loss of power can be deadly for patients undergoing a procedure, treatment or surgery; why put our patients in such situations.  We have a responsibility to our patients, our staff and our community; and yesterday into today we lived up to that responsibility.  Thanks everyone for a job very well done!

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