2024 Agenda

When drafting up emergency preparedness plans, radiology is not always included in the plans or discussions. Yet, in many incidents, radiology plays a vital role, particularly in mass casualty events.

Hear from a radiologist on why and how to include them in your planning scenarios.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• The role of radiology in mass casualty events, and how it impacts mass casualty responses
• What most people don’t realize about the critical function of radiology, and why it should be included and accounted for in emergency planning
• How best to engage radiology, and gather important input before drafting up emergency plans

Faced with more extreme weather events, including record heat, cold, storms, floods and fires, we can expect more disasters and higher emergency room visits; and in some cases, more severe illnesses such as asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and the migration of tropical diseases.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• What the trends and patterns of risk are with respect to climate change
• What is the threat to the anticipated migration of new tropical diseases?
• How climate change will impact health and health care capacity among vulnerable patients
• How hospitals should respond to climate change threats

Creating protocols and operational responses for a new emergency code is a multi year endeavour, particularly when you are a team of one. It also requires a lot of buy in, and a tremendous amount of collaboration, both regionally and nationally.

This award-winning initiative is now being rolled out across all BC health authorities for all health care staff, volunteers, and physicians.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• The importance of national collaboration, alignment, and dedication to the task at hand
• How to align staff and key stakeholders to ensure buy in, and wide scale adoption of your code
• Lessons learned and key processes to expedite the development and execution of a new code and protocol

Emergency Managers are great in a crisis. But how prepared are you and your team for the aftermath, reflection and rest so that you are prepared at all times for any type of crisis.

Taking an organizational approach, as well as a wholistic approach that includes personal connections and family is an essential aspect to providing a robust mental health response plan.

Through personal experiences, best practices, and lessons learned, we will explore how emergency managers can better support themselves and their team.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• What is the difference between PTSD and OSI, and how can you ensure staff get the right help, at the right time and in the right place?
• Who helps those who help others? And why a peer support network is essential  
• Anecdotal Case Studies, what would you do if you had a chance?  

EM’s may be familiar with lean, although it originated in the manufacturing industry, it has since permeated to all industries, including healthcare. One hospital system to incorporate it is Mt. Sinai in NYC.

This session is your opportunity to learn actionable tools you can use immediately to improve strategic outcomes across your emergency management program.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• Learning Lean: Define Lean and understand the context for the application of Lean Methodology in emergency management practice.

• The Case Study: Learn how Lean was applied in our program and hear the lessons learned for future growth of our (and your) program.

• Lean as a Way of Life: Explore how we have integrated Lean not only into planning but also into response and recovery.

In this storytelling session from the Canadian Red Cross, Chris shares his experiences running a Support to Evacuations and Repatriation Team (SERT), emphasizing the importance of effective communication and coordination within Indigenous communities.

With recent wildfires and mass evacuations in the north, there are increased discussions looking at creating culturally sensitive and culturally safe reception/evacuation centres. With a broad view, our understanding of health needs to be interwoven into the Pillars of Emergency Management (Prevention/Mitigation, Preparedness, Response and Recovery), and how generational impacts and social determinants of health have impacted how these centres are planned and stood up in times of need.

As Indigenous peoples and First Nations are moved out of their community or reserves to a neighbouring municipality, to another part of the province or across a provincial or territorial line, what does that look like, what are they coming with, what do they need, and who or what are you using to guide you?

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• The importance to look beyond the Emergency Medical Services
• Being aware of the social Determinants of Health and how they should be applied in evacuations
• Bracing the Pillars of Emergency Management within the context of culturally diverse populations
• The role of Emergency Social Services in emergency evacuations

Public protests are to be expected in Canada but more and more large-scale protests are affecting hospitals and our ability to provide care.

In January 2022, a planned demonstration turned into a near month long event with 1,000’s of protestors camped out in trucks and vehicles in the downtown core of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Throughout, the event posed physical and clinical threats to hospital operations, staff, and patients, which then required significant health sector coordination and collaboration across Ottawa and the National Capital Region.

Key Session Take Aways Include:

• HEPCO will share their experiences using an All-Hazard approach to preparedness.
• How were the implementation of protective measures, traffic management plans and mobile staff supports deployed
• How has HEPCO’s local and regional hospital coordination plans evolved since the protests

With continuous pressures facing the healthcare industry, business continuity is an element of emergency management that is not always prioritized. As outlined by experts, the number of emergencies and disasters and their corresponding impacts are only expected to increase, thus the need for business continuity plans has never been more important.

Whether it be a cyber attack that has crippled a hospitals ICT infrastructure, or a nearby forest fire that triggers the evacuation of a hospital, Niagara Health has developed a comprehensive business continuity program to support leaders and guide them through the initial response and recovery process of any service disruption. These plans have been created in collaboration with leadership and tested through robust engagement activities that ensure the plans are accurate and actionable.

In this session, Niagara Health will share their journey revitalizing their business continuity program and creating a culture focused on training exercises to support continuity planning.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• How to implement a comprehensive business continuity program in a healthcare setting
• Key learning during the implementation of, and post-update of business continuity plans
• Highlights on the importance of testing business continuity plans to ensure operational success