Area Hospitals Prep for Y2K With Mix of People, Paper Drills

Power failures, computer programs gone haywire and a flood of injured people needing emergency care were among the problems Ventura County hospitals prepped for Thursday aspart of a statewide Y2K drill in preparation for New Year’s Eve.

“We can’t make guarantees about Y2K. Nobody can,” saidJoLynn Hinger, spokeswoman for Simi Valley Hospital.

But like hospitals around the county and state, the east county facility has devoted more than a year to double-checking computers and all other equipment in anticipation of any New Year’s Eve disaster-related problems.

The drill, coordinated by the Emergency Medical Services Authority, offered hospitals a shot at role-playing to test the emergency medical communications network and its backup systems for any potential Y2K computer trouble. It was also an opportunity to see how well hospitals can handle unexpected problems.

Hospital staff members and volunteers in Simi Valley donned casts, gauze and fake blood as they impersonated disaster victims.

A dozen phony car accident victims flooded the emergency room, where the power had gone out and computers programs failed.

“We need more wheelchairs! We need a couple gurneys too!” shouted Cathy Dye, a registered nurse who played the role of triage manager.

As she and other nurses treated “victims,” volunteers playing the role of hysterical parents and reporters screamed for information in the waiting room.

Pretend victims were sent to the operating room, a waiting area for minor injuries or to laboratories to have tests performed.

Included among the volunteers in the three-hour drill were ham radio operators, who helped hospital staff members communicate with other facilities.

While Simi Valley Hospital used people to run their drill, other county hospitals ran “paper tests,” in which the state-run Emergency Medical Services Authority gave hospitals hypothetical problems to resolve.

In Ventura, Community Memorial Hospital tested the engineering and emergency departments.

Computer lines went down, internal communication systems malfunctioned and more doctors were called to handle an influx of patients, said Roland Ouellette, the emergency room manager.

For 45 minutes hospital staff members set about fixing the problem. Extra doctors were given surprise calls. More beds were located. The generator was tested. And nurses filled out forms instead of using computers.

The only real glitch had nothing to do with complex computer programming: One doctor’s phone numbers were wrong on the staff list.

“I feel fairly confident that we are Y2K compliant and ready to go,” Quellette said.

Hospitals usually beef up staffing on New Year’s Eve to handle the expected increase in car accidents, slips and falls and other partying-related mishaps.

This year officials still aren’t sure what to expect. But Simi Valley Hospital is making sure every person on staff is in town and available for a major emergency.

Other hospitals have also devised plans to make sure enough health-care providers will be available.

“The nice thing about this disaster is we know exactly when it’s coming,” said Hinger of Simi Valley Hospital.

Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks was also among the 350 hospitals statewide that participated in the test.

During Thursday’s drill, Los Robles officials were told the hospital had lost power in part of the facility and would be receiving 15 casualties, including one shooting victim.

Each department in the hospital assessed how it would handle the circumstances, checking bed availability and alternative power sources.

After the morning drill, officials said they are confident they are ready for New Year’s Eve.

They have already checked equipment, educated staff members and met with numerous local agencies to anticipate everything that could go wrong.

“We always say we are 99.9% sure,” spokeswoman Kris Carraway-Bowman said. “But that one-tenth is what we don’t know.”

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Year 2000 dawns for other California caregivers in statewide test. A3