Melanie (Host): California has earthquakes, wildfires, floods,
high winds, almost any disaster you can possibly think of.
And we are here today to discuss what steps you should take to make sure you
and your family are prepared in case of any of these possible disasters.
Welcome to It's Your Health Radio with Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital.
I'm Melanie Cole.
Joining me today is Benjamin Morgan.
He's the Assistant Chief Nursing Officer at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital.
He's here to tell us about disaster preparedness.
What you need to know.
Ben, thank you so much for joining us today.
So you live in an area that's really susceptible, as I said, to
all kinds of disasters, whether weather related or environmental.
I would like you to start by some basic preparedness.
If you were to think of the most basic.
Top five things or so that you tell people all the time, Hey, you know what?
You need to make sure to have this, this, do this.
What do you tell them?
Benjamin Morgan, RN: Well, thank you very much Melanie, and thank
you for having me on the show.
It's a pleasure to be here.
Um, This is something that I am super passionate about as a topic,
and I think it is never too soon or too late for everybody to consider.
How can they be best prepared for the unexpected?
And really I think that's the best place to start.
We never really know what could happen.
And we really don't want to be caught unawares where stuff does happen
that can impact us or our family.
And sometimes we do know in the area that we live, we're more
susceptible to wildfires or floods or earthquakes, those kind of things.
But the basic principles really remain the same.
So the first thing to do, the most important thing to do is to sit down
with your family or on your own or with loved ones or friends, and actually
just start to have a conversation and talk through and think about.
What would you do in basic situations?
The age old adage of, if we fail to plan, we plan to fail,
really is very relevant here.
So the first and most important step is to sit with your family or loved ones.
and start to talk about what are the things in your area that might be
a problem that you can anticipate.
And then really, if you look at the basic principles of emergency preparation, it
is first of all to plan to understand how you could make yourself safe
and deal with a difficult situation.
Be safe during an event that's actually going on.
Survive that And then figure out how to recover and be
safe in the period afterwards.
So if we were to consider, for example, a situation that happened to me and my
wife a few years ago, we used to live up in Crestline in San Bernardino.
And for those of you in the area that may remember, we had Snowmageddon.
so unfortunately being passionate about this situation, I'm a bit of a prepper.
We lived up on the mountains.
And we did the very simple exercise before any of these things happened of planning.
Okay?
If I'm at a hospital down in the valley and you are up here on the mountain,
what will we do if something happens and there's an emergency And we have
to navigate through that together?
Well, first of all, how will we get in touch with each other?
Really, really basic.
Will we use cell phones?
What are the contact numbers of the places that we work And the
places you are likely to be?
If we can't communicate with each other, where would we meet And
what would be the backup plan?
Where would we meet if we needed a backup plan?
And then very simply, what would we need?
So, really it usually comes down to do you have the food that you would need?
Do you have the clothing that you would need?
Do you have the emergency medications that you would need?
Do you have a way of communicating in an emergency?
And if you've thought through those things, most of the time, most of
the incidents you might face, you're likely to be much better prepared with
a plan than you would if you were not.
does that begin to answer your question, Melanie?
I don't wanna go too far down the path without us giving you
a chance to ask for detail.
Melanie (Host): no, no, that was perfect.
I mean, communication certainly being top of the list.
And when you planned this with your wife, I mean, you guys set a
place to meet and if it was like.
Roads were closed and stuff, and I'm kind of invested now.
I wanna know what you guys came up with as far as some of that.
What, what would you decide to do if the roads were closed?
Benjamin Morgan, RN: So, both of us are healthcare workers, so it's really
easy to know where we are likely to be.
I'm either gonna be at the hospital or at home.
My wife's gonna be at the hospital or home.
And near where we were, there was a really recognizable landmark.
It was a small fire station.
That was just close to the house.
So if for some reason she had to leave the house, had to go somewhere, was
being moved, the rally point, if you will, we decided on would be we're
gonna meet at the little fire station So, It was really easily recognizable.
It was somewhere that was likely to be attended by emergency
personnel if there was an issue that was going on at the time.
And that was a really easy way for us to make sure if we couldn't
get in touch with each other.
And we couldn't figure out what was going on.
We would try and meet up there, And then we had the backup plan.
So if you are able to get from the house and you were trying to drive
to find me and you couldn't find me at the fire station, then you'd
go to the hospital where I worked.
So we had plan A And we had plan B, and obviously we would try and call each other
and talk, but just in case we couldn't use the communication strategies that we had.
That was our emergency meetup plan.
Melanie (Host): Wow, that's awesome.
Now I miss the days of CB Radio.
'cause you know, those would, those would've worked.
We could have just taken them with us.
Right.
So, it seems like earthquake recommendations, Ben, have
changed over the years.
It used to be a doorway or like a bathroom.
What is it now?
What do you recommend if an earthquake hits, where do you go?
What do you do?
Benjamin Morgan, RN: Okay, so, I don't wanna leave.
Make sure you've had a think about a plan, right?
So if the earthquake hits in the middle of the night, where's your emergency bag
with your clothing and your footwear and something that's a light that you can use
If it's dark, where's your emergency food?
Where's your emergency medications, right?
So if we're talking about an earthquake, that could happen at any time.
Knowing where your stuff is And what your plan is.
Super, super important.
The next point is shelter in place.
Okay?
We have a lot of people that get injured when they try and run out of
the house, And then they are exposed to broken glass and those kind of things.
So if you're in a building.
Under a doorway or something that's a solid structure under a bridge
table or something along those lines that you can shelter under
if you really, really need to.
if you're already outside, then move away from buildings, move
into an open space away from stuff that could fall down and hurt you.
I think you raise a really, really good point though, Melanie, which
is the guidance keeps changing.
there are lots of different stories and different people telling you different
things, and I would love to take this time to sort of point out a couple of
resources that people can actually use.
So there is a fantastic resource online called www.ready.gov.
And if you go to that, FEMA has prepared multiple guides for the common situations
that many people would face, and they really adopt a very simplistic way.
Of, thinking about emergency preparedness.
So they'll start with, prepare now before you end up in the event, right?
And then whatever the situation is, fire, flood, earthquake, storm, heat wave,
cyber attack, whatever you can think of.
they've been very good at putting together guides that categorize actions
you can take into those three sections.
Prepare now.
Make sure that you can survive during the event And then make
sure you can be safe afterwards.
So if you're ever in a situation where you're not sure what's the most
current guidance on a certain topic, whether That is thunderstorms or.
even the CDC did do a guide on zombie apocalypse once as a fun exercise
to get people ready for emergencies.
But if you're not sure of what the current guidance is for a situation that
you face and you're looking for some resources, if you go to www.ready.gov,
And then you will be able to find their preparedness sheets
that are prepared by fema.
It's really good to get the most up-to-date guidance of.
Want you.
Melanie (Host): I'm really glad that you offered up that information
because it is a great place to find out really what to do.
Now, one of the scariest things that anybody, myself, anybody
can think of is a fire of.
we've seen California wildfires.
If someone is told that the fires are going and they have to evacuate, What
do you tell them to take with now?
I have planned my own evacuation plan, and I've thought to myself, I've gone around
my house and if I had 20 minutes, what would I grab what do you say to people?
what should they take with them?
Benjamin Morgan, RN: Well, I think, and I, I'm gonna keep harping on this
point, Melanie, is if you can plan for it, even 15 or 20 minutes of thinking
that through now, before you're in that situation, is really, really gonna help.
And I think the most important thing to consider if we're talking
about during the point when someone is saying, you've gotta evacuate.
You've really got to listen to what the emergency professionals are telling you to
do, and as tempting as it might be to stay longer or do the things that you think
you can do to try and, save your property or those kind of things, it really is
important to listen to the guidance from emergency services firefighters, to make
sure that they can do the best that they can to support you, in being as safe
as possible during those situations.
I think if we plan through what's going on.
We need to think through what are the things that we need as
an individual or as a family to survive for the next little while.
so again, making sure that we've got clothing, making sure that
we've got emergency medications, making sure that we've got food and
water and communication and being prepared for that can help with that.
So it's not a last minute panic run around, with a backpack.
Trying to throw things together, being prepared is really gonna
help, but Those are the priorities.
property is at the end of the day property and can be replaced most of the time.
And even if things can't be replaced, it's a far cry losing a family photo album.
To losing a loved one themselves.
So obviously people come first.
Making sure that you have the items that are gonna help you
stay safe is super important.
But past that, if we plan for it, things that you can't replace.
So it's really important to keep your important documents, your family photo
albums that you've had for years that are gonna be very difficult to replace.
Keep them in a place that's either in a fire safe box so you don't have to
worry about it if you have to evacuate or keep them in a place where you
can pull them together very quickly.
And you can go.
The one thing that you don't want to be doing is fire is coming over the mountain.
Your house is being threatened, the firefighters are asking you to
evacuate the area, and suddenly you're trying to remember, what should I
take And what should I not take?
So people first make sure that the people are safe now and they're gonna be safe
for the next few days that are with you.
And then you can look at bringing items that are gonna be of,
uh, good importance to you.
Melanie (Host): That's really great advice.
You don't wanna be running around at the last minute and having that plan, having
that thought and things like photo albums, putting them in a fire safe box is a
great idea Now what about technology?
Ben, there's so much out there.
Is there any technology that you would recommend on phones or other
kinds that you recommend that we have that would either warn us
about these things, let us know.
I mean, should we be keeping those radios, those little crank up radios?
you know, what should we be having?
Benjamin Morgan, RN: Okay.
That's a great question and uh, I've gotta be careful not to go in
too many places at the same time.
'cause This is super exciting for me.
So let's tackle the technology one first.
So I live in Southern California and wildfires are a real issue for us.
Flash floods are a real issue for us.
Earthquakes are a real issue for us, And we get terrible storms
in the wintertime, And we can get heat waves in the summertime.
So one app that I and my family use is the fema.gov
app.
You can find it on the app store, you can download it, And
that once you plug in your zip.
We'll actually give you alerts specific to your area about
significant events, whether That is weather, whether That is earthquake.
And it's also super useful because it's another way to access, those guides
I was talking about on ready.gov.
Those are available through that FEMA app as well.
And also it has information about local shelters.
if they are standing up an emergency response in your area, how to
communicate with people, all that information comes through their app.
So That is a very useful app to actually have.
The other app that myself and my family use especially living
in the area with California wildfires is the watch duty app.
That allows you to see maps of areas near you.
You can see where the fire is, what's active, what's being fought.
You can see alerts to new fires that start, and it really helps
you keep abreast of what's going on with wildfires in our area.
Okay, so if we put a, a line under that piece for the apps,
what do I keep in my emergency?
go kit from that perspective.
you'd actually mentioned CB radios and I would encourage people to get
involved with their communities.
Wherever you are, There will be people who are involved in local education and
local, emergency preparedness, and it is possible to become a CB radio operator
in conjunction with the local services.
You can learn how to do that, having a CB radio at home,
portable radios that you can use.
Do give you access to those emergency channels.
It is something That is still very doable for most people.
There's communities available in your area.
You can learn to be a CB operator, a community ham radio
operator, is what they call it.
And then you can actually be part of that communication piece.
So that's super important.
So I have those, having a clockwork radio or a clockwork, flashlight.
So that even if you don't have batteries and you're trying to listen
into what's going on, you are able to have something like that that keeps
you in touch with what's happening.
having some kind of recharged battery packs ready to go with
charging cables for your phones.
we all use our phones all the time And we mention some of the
apps that can actually help.
Those things I find super useful, so we keep those in our emergency bag.
We mentioned the emergency medications And the emergency clothing.
Some emergency food, even if it's just snacks, like granola bars.
Just having something in case you find yourself away and you just
need to have some water and some snacks is super, super helpful.
we mentioned the emergency medications And then the other thing is glow sticks.
I long gone to the days where I've gone to discos and used glow sticks in my
past, but having the Lummi glow sticks that you can buy, they're super cheap.
You can get them on Amazon.
if you're in a situation where you don't want to waste your flashlight, batteries.
or you just want to put a source of light in a restroom or
something when the power's out.
Those kind of things.
Those glow sticks are super, super useful to have in your emergency
kit, just in case you find yourself in a situation where you need
light for a long period of time.
Melanie (Host): What a great idea That is something I would
not have even thought about.
So That is.
An excellent idea.
And Ben, and This is my last question for you, but you've given
us so much information, what does Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital do
to prepare for these disasters?
Because, you know, we've all seen on tv, stuff happening in the hospitals
and it's crazy in the ER and all of that, but hospitals are kind of,
the center point besides like the fire stations, the hospitals are
where people will tend to gravitate.
There's.
People there on, machinery And what does Henry Mayo do to protect the
community And the hospital itself?
What do you do to prepare?
Benjamin Morgan, RN: So Melanie, I'm, I'm super glad you asked about that.
As you might have guessed, This is something that's a passion of
mine, as well as being the associate chief nursing officer here and
being responsible for the emergency department, our trauma department.
I'm also our designated emergency manager here at Henry Mayo.
So, you may or may not know, and our community may or may not know, Henry
Mayo is not just a hospital on its own.
We are actually host to one of many of the county's disaster resource centers.
So we actually have, caches of equipment, medication and supplies here at Henry Mayo
that are specifically designed, not just for us, but also for an umbrella of other
hospitals that we provide service for.
And we take that program very seriously.
So everything has to be checked, everything has to be maintained.
to make sure that we can be part of the community's emergency response and
support other hospitals if we need to.
Past that, hospitals use something called the Hospital Incident Command
System, the Hicks System, which is nationally recognized and part
of the FEMA response structure.
And essentially that enables us to adopt an all hazards planning approach.
So we know we may get an earthquake, we will see wildfires, we may see a flood.
But anything could happen.
We could have a train derail at Newhall.
We could have any number of different events impact us.
And the key for us is to make sure that we always have one person at all
times who is responsible for making sure the hospital is functioning okay.
And at any time that person can activate a leadership response where a group of
us get together really, really quickly evaluate what's going on, And then
we can activate everything from extra engineering departments through to extra
staff from the emergency department through to, opening up communication
networks with other hospitals in case there has been some big event and
people are trying to find each other.
we take this very seriously.
We practice and drill on this on a regular basis.
We have fantastic communications with, fire and police resources
And the sheriff's department.
We have good networks with the water company and supply companies, And we
keep five days worth of food and water on site here enough to feed all our
staff and all our patient's and a whole bunch of people should they turn up our.
we were just involved in one of the great shakeout practice drills,
probably about six weeks ago, where we mobilized our entire structure, got
everybody organized, pretended we had a hundred people coming through the
emergency department at the same time.
And it's really good that we do that to make sure that we're on our game.
So, we take that very seriously.
We are part of not just our response for this community, but the broader
area as part of the LA County response.
And we, we are super excited about helping people understand how
we get ready for those kind of.
Melanie (Host): Wow, you just really gave me chills.
those drills are so important I think it instills confidence and
it should instill confidence in the community to know that you.
The experts at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital are there to help.
If anybody needs help, I'd like you to offer your best advice
here as your final thought.
Tell the community what you want them to know about what you're doing there
at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital And for the community, what they need to know
about disaster preparedness, because these kinds of things can and do
happen, and you know, the God forbids are what we don't want to happen.
So we all need to be prepared.
Benjamin Morgan, RN: For sure.
I appreciate that question, Melanie.
So, I think one of the most important things for us is.
We are the hospital that serves this community.
There aren't any other hospitals here.
We are the only hospital immediate to many people in this local area, And we
really want to partner with everybody to make sure that if something like this
happens, we are as prepared as we can be.
And we've navigated some difficult stuff together historically.
There's been gun fight incidents, there's been fires, there's been
earthquakes that have impacted this community, and Henry Mayo has been here
partnering with them along the way.
So just as we talk about.
Planning for in an all hazards approach.
Anything that could hit us, You know, it's a pretty set piece for us to
talk about a fire And what we would do And the apps we would use, but we try
and prepare for the any eventuality.
So there are many different events that could lead to people needing to shelter
in their home for a little while.
There are many events that could lead to people needing to take shelter in a
place That is not their home for a little while, and I want to encourage everybody
in the community to think that through.
We keep going on about the planning piece, Melanie, you know, won't let
it go because it's so, so important.
So think through the common things that you think could impact you.
A fire, a flood, evacuating, an earthquake, power goes out
cold weather, hot weather.
Think about those things.
Go and look at the resources that we've talked about today.
Go and look@theready.gov
website and look at those things and sit with your family.
And even if it's only a quick 15 minute conversation, And then a
handwritten note that you put on a magnet on your fridge saying, if this
happens, my medications are here.
My really valuable things are here.
I've got my go bag and I know what we'll do if an event happens like this.
And then we can partner really effectively when you need us, we are here for you.
Um, but if you need to, you can be self-sufficient for a little
while and be safe in your home or wherever you are asked to be as
you're in a disaster should it occur.
Melanie (Host): Wow.
That was great information Ben.
What a great educator you are and such.
A nice man, and I certainly can hear the passion and see your
compassion come through for this topic and, and helping people.
You're just lovely.
I thank you so much for joining us today and really telling us everything
we need to know to get ourselves prepared and to make that plan,
because that's what's so important to get started right at the beginning
and have that talk with your family.
Thank you again, Ben, so much for joining us today.
And you can learn more about disaster preparedness by going to the Henry
Mayo Newhall Hospital online health library@library.henrymayo.com,
and clicking on disaster preparedness in the Explore topics pull down menu
on the right side of the homepage.
That concludes this episode of It's Your Health Radio with
Henry May Newhall Hospital.
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It's your health radio.
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I'm Melanie Cole.
Thank you so much for joining us today.