Shelley Ellison, director of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, was strapped inside an evacuation sled holding a doll, which represented a baby, and was evacuated from the Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit (IRU) down 12 flights of stairs and across a street to the Feigin Center for safety. It was just an exercise, but it was an exercise in preparedness.
The IRU practiced their vertical evacuation procedures to learn what it would take for the entire eight-bed unit to leave using the exit stairs in case of an emergency. This was the second time the team has taken part in this exercise that is required by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF), an international, independent, nonprofit accreditor of health and human services. The IRU received the highest level of CARF accreditation, last year. The Texas Children’s Hospital IRU is the only pediatric inpatient rehabilitation facility in the state of Texas, and one of only 31 worldwide with this accreditation.
These annual evacuation exercises, while required for CARF accreditation, are an excellent demonstration of preparedness and interdisciplinary teamwork.
“We want to demonstrate our proficiency in safely evacuating these patients who are “mobility impaired,” said Shelley Ellison, director of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. “The exercise goes beyond teaching us what needs to be done in an emergency; it gives our staff a sense of confidence in case they ever have to evacuate in a real scenario.”
The unit learned many lessons that are now being put into motion as they prepare for future exercises and education that is being presented to the staff.
See photographs from the evacuation drill below.
Lessons learned
Once the drill began, each “patient” in the exercise was assessed for medical stability and was paired with two staff members deemed appropriate for the level of medical complexity for the entirety of the evacuation drill. In some cases, it was determined that the patient required extra medical equipment, so a third person was added to carry the equipment and perform “in transit emergent” procedures such as suctioning. From preforming this exercise twice, the team has determined that caregivers should be pre-assigned a patient for emergency evacuation procedures each shift in preparation for an emergency.
Evacuation from the 12th floor to the first and across a street to a pre-designated evacuation point is not an easy task, even given the EvacusledsTM that are designed for this specific instance. The sleds were difficult to maneuver down the narrow stairways, leading the two member teams to switch off their positions to share the burden of the weight.
Amy Puglia with Emergency Management said while the exercise isn’t being performed in every other unit, it helps our Emergency Management department determine the system-wide needs to best prepare for an emergency that would require a vertical evacuation.
“In these exercises we are demonstrating the plan and making sure the plan works,” Puglia said. “We have evacuation plans in place and these exercises are a way for us to ensure those plans are up to date and tested.”
A team effort
It took teams from across the organization including emergency management, security services and even the Houston Fire Department to pull off this exercise.
“To make this exercise successful, it took a lot of preparation and hard work on the part of many teams,” said Dr. Christian Niedzwecki, medical director of Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit. “It really is an indication that the caregivers of this institution are dedicated to ensuring the safety of our patients in an emergency.”
“All it takes is that one time,” Ellison said. “We hope it never happens, but we want to prepare in the event that it does. Catastrophic events have happened across the country and could happen anywhere.”
For Ellison, being on the evacuation sled gave a perspective of how the patients would feel in an emergency, giving another dimension to the emergency preparations.
Evacuation Drill Photo Gallery
