Abstract
Introduction: The blackout in North America of August 2003 was one of the worst on record. It affected eight United States states and parts of Canada for >24 hours. Additionally, two large United States cities, Detroit, Michigan and Cleveland, Ohio, suffered from a loss of water pressure and a subsequent ban on the use of public supplies of potable water that lasted four days. A literature review revealed a paucity of literature that describes blackouts and how they may affect the medical community.Methods: This paper includes a review of after-action reports from four inner-city, urban hospitals supplemented accounts from the authors' hospital's emergency operations center (emergency operations center).Results: Some of the problems encountered, included: (1)lighting; (2) elevator operations; (3) supplies of water; (4) communication operations; (5) computer failure; (6) lack of adequate supplies of food; (7) mobility to obtain Xray studies; (8) heating, air condition, and ventilation; (9) staffing; (10) pharmacy; (11) registration of patients; (12) hospital emergency operations center; (13) loss of isolation facilities; (14) inadequate supplies of paper; (15) impaired ability to provide care for non-emergency patients; (16) sanitation; and (17) inadequate emergency power.Discussion: The blackout of 2003 uncovered problems within the United States hospital system, ranging from staffing to generator coverage. This report is a review of the effects that the blackout and water ban of 2003 had on hospitals in a large inner-city area. Also discussed are solutions utilized at the time and recommendations for the future.Conclusion: The blackout of 2003 was an excellent test of disaster/emergency planning, and produced many valuable lessons to be used in future events.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 343-349 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Prehospital and disaster medicine |
Volume | 20 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2005 |
Keywords
- Blackout 2003
- after-action reports
- emergency operations center (EOC)
- failures
- hospitals
- lessonslearned
- preparedness
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Emergency Medicine
- Emergency