Being Prepared for the Next Time
FT. PIERRE, S.D. - Saying that being ready is a shared responsibility, President Obama has declared September as "National Preparedness Month," a time for everyone to share information about preventing and recovering from natural or man-made disasters.
Oahe Valley Community Health Center, Ft. Pierre, found itself in the middle of major Missouri River flooding in late May. CEO Jim Hardwick says they didn't have much time to get ready.
"We went from a discussion on a Wednesday that the water might come up, to Thursday we might want to throw a few sandbags, and by Saturday morning we had completely vacated a 7500-square-foot clinic. I mean, fixtures that were attached to walls, x-ray equipment - everything had been vacated. So it was very limited planning and more a case of everybody calling friends, neighbors, family, and in 10 hours the building was vacant."
Hardwick says they used several locations around the community, and by the following Monday they were again seeing patients. Hardwick says in planning ahead, they want to do a better job of identifying possible hazards to their people and facility.
"The first would be the contingencies - what could happen. In our area, with the flood control dams, flood would have never been one that we would have anticipated, nor would we have really anticipated having time to make a plan. We would think more of fire, tornado, those types of disasters. So, the type of disaster would be the first place we would start, and give that a lot more consideration."
Several staff members lost their homes to flooding, so taking care of their people was also a priority, Hardwick explains. He adds that they will do more to back up their important medical records in the future, as well. Oahe Valley Community Health Center has 10 employees, handling a total of about 20 patients a day.
