MMRS and Tulsa Partners to Co-Host A Day Without Hospitals

Release Date:October 1 , 2007
Contact: Jessica Hill - Tulsa Partners
Contact Phone: 918-346-9426

Workshop to Focus on Preparedness and Continuity of Services

EMSA’s Metropolitan Medical Response System (MMRS) and Tulsa Partners, Inc. are set to co-host A Day Without Hospitals, a disaster preparedness workshop targeting the region’s hospital officials, on Thursday, October 11, 2007 at OSU-Tulsa.

When a disaster strikes, hospitals officials have to be ready to ensure continuity of operations, implement response plans, navigate reimbursement programs, maintain adequate staffing and standards of care, assess the need for equipment and supplies, and communicate with multiple constituencies.

A Day Without Hospitals will feature first-hand experience from local and regional experts, guidance from business continuity and disaster response professionals, strategies for ensuring continuity of services in a disaster, and a practical tabletop exercise led by Mike McCool, the Director of the Tulsa Area Emergency Management Agency.

Dr. Richard Wainerdi, President & CEO of the Texas Medical Center, will deliver the keynote address.  Located in Houston, Texas, the Texas Medical Center is the largest medical center in the world, serving as home to 46 non-profit member institutions.  In 2001, Wainerdi successfully led the Medical Center through recovery from Tropical Storm Allison, the worst tropical storm on record. 

“It is our hope that key hospital officials will come away from this event with new tools and strategies for leading their facilities through a crisis,” said Kelly Deal, MMRS Director.  “We’re building on the lessons learned from Tulsa Partners’ previous successful workshops for small businesses and long-term care facilities and bringing this critical information to a new audience.”

Sponsors for A Day Without Hospitals include Saint Francis Health System, Oklahoma Dept. of Emergency Management, Oklahoma State Dept. of Health and EMSA.

The workshop’s planning committee includes representatives from MMRS, Saint Francis Hospital, Hillcrest Hospital, Tulsa Health Department, and Tulsa Partners’ Disaster Resistant Business Council and Disaster Management for Long-term Care Facilities Workshop Committee.

For more information, visit www.tulsapartners.org