Idaho is Ready
During an emergency, the need for sharing information about emergency resources required is great. Volunteer health professionals may be needed to staff medical facilities. What mechanism is in place to notify health professionals of the need for volunteers? Once identified, it is vital to public safety that these volunteers have verified credentials. If there are multiple victims that need simultaneous hospital care, how will transport agencies know which hospitals have beds available that can accept patients with specific requirements for care? Idaho is preparing for such an emergency in multiple ways.
Volunteer Idaho
A system for recruiting, verifying, and deploying volunteer health professionals during an emergency is currently being implemented. The system is available for volunteers to register themselves, including their profession, training, certifications, license numbers, expiration dates and volunteer preferences. This information will be verified automatically by comparing it to information stored in several Federal and State Licensing Boards. Volunteers whose license has been expired or revoked will automatically be removed from the list of volunteers available to respond during an event. Administrators will be able to query the system for volunteers that match criteria specific to the needs of the emergency. The system will be capable of notifying the volunteers of an event and allow them to reply as to their ability and willingness to assist. Robust reporting capabilities are incorporated that will assist the administrators as well as the volunteers to keep track of volunteer activity. Walk-on volunteers can have their credentials verified in real time to ensure that they are qualified to provide the services needed.
Idaho Hospital Bed Tracking Program
During an emergency, it is possible to have an overwhelming number of victims that require medical assistance simultaneously. What type of care do they need? Which area hospitals have beds available that can provide that specific type of care? The Idaho Hospital Bed Tracking Program is a new Web-hosted system for tracking emergency management resources such as hospital beds. All hospitals in the State can log on and report bed availability in many different bed categories such as ICU, pediatric, isolation, psychiatric, operating, etc. This information is made available in real time to users of the system. Dispatch, hospitals, and EMS providers can have access to real time information necessary to make critical decisions on patient bed availability and assure efficient and effective care for patients in an emergency.
