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Jim Craig, Mississippi Department of Health

Non-terrestrial wireless communications systems, push-to-talk radio, satellite telephones, enhanced antenna, the electronic validating and registering of medical providers before assigning them to work, high-tech incident training, and new field hospitals are just some of the state’s improved implementations utilizing information technology if another disaster strikes.

Jim Craig, director of health protection at the Mississippi Department of Health (MDH), said a number of things are in process to improve communications between state agencies to ensure faster and better coordination of medical care in emergencies.

“We have an agreement with the Mississippi Hospital Association to ensure that people who are staffed and work in their facilities have received Hospital Incident Command System Training (HICS),” Craig said. “HICS is an answer to the president’s directive for a national incident management system. What that gives you is an operable communications, a similar language and operational plans that can support the national, state and local strategy for responding to disaster. Before anytime you’d call into a facility and ask ‘what are your needs, how bad have you been damaged ’the answer you got depended in large part who you talked to. Under this, you have information from all departments in one place — everything that has been affected. Everybody works under one concept of how we’ll communicate and keep information flowing between parties. Federal funds, under Homeland Security, are contingent on HICS compliance. All hospitals can participate in this. It helps us focus on the real needs.”

In addition to this specific communications training, a statewide wireless communication system will provide fast support to the health and medical community. Hancock and Jackson counties have already established a communication between them in case of emergency, but the statewide system will incorporate the lower six counties for starters and bring Hancock and Jackson into the fold. Within a couple of years, the statewide wireless system should have moved up into central Mississippi.

“We’ve met with FEMA to put together a communications plan for this season based on the assets in Mississippi today, which is our thing here like Hancock and Jackson counties did there. It’s separate from the statewide system,” Craig said. “Wireless communications are being done to help further communications resources in our state, but if we had a storm that just blew in, we have a plan from shelters to evacuation. That plan is being completed and was worked through with the lower six counties to make sure communication is solid between counties, so they can get resources such as water and other commodities down to the coast.”

Larry Fisher, director of the department of emergency management, county fire coordinator, said the 700 MHz wireless systems will ensure better communication between government agencies statewide.

“There have always been communications issues,” Fisher pointed out. “Since the late ‘90s, there has been a lot of discussion and need for interoperability between emergency agencies, state, local and federal ability to communicate with each other and so forth. This is a goal coming about not just because of Katrina, but also for a really long time effort. Without the wireless communications, we’ve been relying on phones. That makes it very difficult to reach people and coordinate services during a disaster. We had various points we could talk to, but when we started sending units down to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, we had to send spare radios along to provide them to agencies down there so we could communicate with them.”

MDH has also initiated several new means to communicate and expand services to better provide care. In the State and Regional Medical Needs Shelter Project, shelters are provided for people with medical needs not so acute that they need to be sheltered in hospitals, but are over and above the general population’s medical needs.

“The health department, in conjunction with community colleges, will provide state and regional medical needs sheltering this year. That includes the registration of people, nurses and physician services that will be available. Medical and government offices are working together on a bed tracking system, so that we’ll know where the available beds are when a hurricane enters the Gulf. That is huge because a lot of times, we have to call around to find an available bed, wasting a lot of time,” Craig said.

One of the other issues is related to healthcare providers coming from out of state wanting to offer their assistance. Through Internet communications with licensing agencies, the state will be able to determine whether applicants wanting to help are legitimate healthcare providers.

“We put a system together, the Emergency Services Advanced Registration Volunteer of Health Professionals, where people can go online to sign up to assist in times of emergency. They say what they’d like to do — assist in a shelter, medical reserve unit, with a medical assistance team, or however they’d like to assist. That system will tie into our health alert network. It gives them an opportunity to serve in an organized method and to match needs with resources,” said Craig. “All 50 states are putting in a similar system. Credentialing was a big issue in Katrina. People wanted to help but we had no way of knowing if they really were a doctor or healthcare worker. Credentialing will be done ahead of time to make sure they are qualified to help.”

New temporary field hospitals, like the one provided to the coast by North Carolina during Katrina, are another way emergency disaster agencies are stepping up to bat.

“We’ve just done purchase orders for three of these field hospitals or medical stations in Mississippi and we’ll create regional teams to staff them so that they’ll be available to assist when hospitals are managed or overwhelmed or staff can’t get to work because they’re affected,” Craig said. “These State Medical Assistance Teams (SMATs) we’re hoping will be functioning by next hurricane season.”


August 2007

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