EPTOR19 kicked off with back-to-back sessions on Code Orange experiences. These included analyses of real-life mass-casualty situations from: Linda Brothwell of Saskatchewan Health Authority (Humboldt Broncos Bus Crash), Dr. Elene Khalil of Montreal Children’s Hospital (Ecole des Decouvreurs Carbon Monoxide Leak), Claudia Cocco of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (Toronto Van Attack), and Jessica Harris of St. Michael’s Hospital (Danforth Shooting). Delegates found our Q&A periods, after each account, beneficial in answering some of the more specific details of the Code Orange protocols in practice.
Following the break, Rocky Prosser of Kingston Health Sciences Centre gave an important talk on how his team ran a Code Silver procedure in the wake of a shooting in the Emergency Room. Prosser, Director of Protection Services, also described his process in altering Kingston’s Code Silver policies to better serve similar situations.
Speaking on the events of a Code Black bomb threat at Credit Valley Hospital was Conference Co-Chair, Simon Bridgland, Manager of Enterprise Risk and Emergency Preparedness for Trillium Health Partners. Bridgland described the hospital’s journey through the initial threat, the evacuation procedures, and getting the all clear to resume regular duties.
The 2nd half of EPTOR’s session lineup began with a presentation from NHS England’s Regional Lead for Emergency Preparedness, Peter Boorman. Delegates were given deep insight into how the UK’s most populous region handles hazardous chemical and nuclear radiation contamination situations. Emergency Preparedness Advisor for Halton Healthcare, Kassondra Stockman, briefed delegates on how to improve implementation of an Incident Command System, based on her recent experiences.
Finally, Toronto Police Service’s Cybercrime Investigator, Kenrick Bagnall, gave a very enlightening talk on cyber security for health care organizations. The session highlighted many examples of holes in current cyber security practices that can be easily fixed to prevent physical intrusions to networks with sensitive data; as well as advice on how to handle ransom demands and what to expect in the near future from cyber attacks.
In closing, we would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all of our delegates, speakers, and sponsors, AppArmor, Everbridge, HIROC, and UHN, that helped to make this year’s event such a big success. We have received so much positive feedback on the sessions from this event and have lots of great ideas for sessions next year. We hope to see you again in 2020!
P.S. Our 2 for 1 Early Bird specials for next year are live! Check out our tickets page for more details.