A Systematic Approach to Very Important Person Preparedness for a Trauma Center

Abstract

Hospitals across the United States are more involved in disaster/rapid response planning than ever. This collaboration is often driven by continuing federal and state preparedness and all-hazards planning efforts that provide cooperative agreement and/or grant support. These efforts currently include programs administered by the US assistant secretary for preparedness and response, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the US Department of Defense, and the US Department of Homeland Security. Beyond legislated support or mandates, key emergency management regulations governing hospital-specific disaster planning and response activities are required of hospitals by The Joint Commission, the largest national hospital accrediting body. Despite this ongoing, heightened awareness and inclusion of health care in local and regional emergency response planning, there is 1 partnership to yet strengthen: the relationship between community trauma centers and US Secret Service staff responsible for White House travel and health care contingency plans. One Michigan hospital system designed a program that has made preevent communications and preparedness for rapid very important person response with the Secret Service as important as other local all-hazards planning; the evolution of this partnership is the focus of this article.

Trauma Center Based Youth Violence Prevention Programs

“…Studies were limited to the United States, given evidence to suggest that violence risk and protective factors are country-specific (Hoffman & Summers, 2001). Youth violence was operationally defined as a threatened or actual physical force or power initiated by an individual that results in, or has a high likelihood of resulting in, physical or psychological injury or death in young people between the ages of 10 and 24 (Bulson, Mattice, & Bulson, 2012). An intervention was defined as a specific set of activities developed to prevent youth violence and the factors that contribute to it (Thornton, Craft, Dahlberg, Lynch, & Baer, 2002).…”

An Independent Review of Several Successful Hospital Incident Command System (HICS) Implementations and Lessons Learned

“…The presidential museum is several blocks from the trauma center, and the church that housed religious services is less than one mile from the burn center. Hospital planners were also proactive in planning for sudden illness or injury to a visiting dignitary, or the chance of a mass casualty incident [12].…”