About Emergency Preparedness
It’s time to change the way California thinks about disaster response. The state must draw on the lessons of COVID-19 to prepare differently for disasters, so that the next large crisis will be less severe and less deadly.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that hospitals can quickly mobilize to put in place emergency preparedness plans and use flexible approaches to care for patients with the greatest needs during a disaster. In the case of COVID-19, hospitals rapidly converted spaces to create more ICU beds to care for surges of COVID-19 patients, redeployed staff, and utilized other staffing strategies to provide care to critically ill patients.
Given California’s size and complexity, the health care disaster response system of the future must be nimble enough to respond at any given moment to a regional catastrophe or something larger.
5 Things To Know: South Region Assessment for Chemical Exposure (ACE) Is Underway
In response to the Tijuana River Valley pollution crisis, San Diego County is conducting a voluntary, confidential survey in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If you or your child live, work, or have spent time in or around the polluted Tijuana River Valley or area beaches, share your experiences and feedback […]
5 Things To Know: South Region Assessment for Chemical Exposure (ACE) Is Underway
In response to the Tijuana River Valley pollution crisis, San Diego County is conducting a voluntary, confidential survey in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If you or your child live, work, or have spent time in or around the polluted Tijuana River Valley or area beaches, share your experiences and feedback […]
5 Things To Know: FDA Guidance Covers Compounding Related to IV Solutions Supply Disruption
Following the effects of recent hurricanes, including the closure of a Baxter IV fluid manufacturing plant in North Carolina, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Oct. 11 released guidance that covers temporary policies for compounding certain parenteral drug products (such as IV fluids). This guidance, effective immediately, describes the FDA’s regulatory and enforcement priorities […]
5 Things To Know: CDC Warns of First Marburg Virus Disease Outbreak in Rwanda
On Oct. 3, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a health alert to inform clinicians and health departments that an outbreak of Marburg virus disease (MVD), a rare but highly fatal viral hemorrhagic fever, has occurred in the Republic of Rwanda. As of Oct. 15, 62 illnesses and 15 deaths from MVD […]
5 Things To Know: Donations Needed as US Faces Emergency Blood Shortage
All hospitals with emergency departments must submit their ambulance patient offload time (APOT) reduction protocol to the Emergency Medical Services Authority by Sept. 1 under Assembly Bill (AB) 40 (2023). The law requires hospitals to include mechanisms in the protocol that will improve hospital operations and reduce APOT.