Something in the Water: Hospital Responds to Water Crisis

Abstract

Early on August 2, 2014, in the city of Toledo, Ohio, a media alert informed the public that traces of microcystin, a hazardous toxin, had been detected in the drinking water. The warning stated that residents should not drink, boil, or even touch the contaminated water. A water crisis of this magnitude was recognized to pose a potentially serious and significant impact on patient care and safety in health care environments. ProMedica Toledo Hospital's Emergency Operation Plan addressed 3 critical issues: safe water availability, alternate cleaning solutions, and preparations for a prolonged crisis. This report details some of the lessons learned throughout the response to the crisis: particularly, because the impact was county-wide which affected other hospitals who used the same vendors, alternate water sources should have been secured in advance; the courier service was vital to delivery of supplies and moving equipment to alternate areas for sterilization processes; and finally, communication with staff and patients was jeopardized by external media outlets. Changes to the emergency plan considering these unanticipated aspects proved useful in a later incident and should be considered by all health care facilities as water emergency policies and procedures are created and reviewed. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;12:666-668).

Water supply emergency preparedness and response in health care facilities: A systematic review on international evidence

“…Multiple studies also identified patients as important actors to involve in the emergency preparedness phase ( 28 , 37 , 40 , 43 ). To a lesser extent, other health care facilities which are not affected by the outage or impairment, the community in which the hospital structure is located, and social networks are also mentioned as essential to enhance networking responsiveness and communication plans ( 23 , 37 , 41 ).…”

“…Regardless of the type of emergency, e.g., earthquakes, or chemical spills, the most common and first hospital response was the provision of drinking water using bottled of water ( 17 , 21 , 22 , 27 , 31 , 41 ). All studies, except one conducted in Sri Lanka, reported on disasters that happened in the United States.…”

“…All studies, except one conducted in Sri Lanka, reported on disasters that happened in the United States. The provision of bottled water was eased in cases where hospitals had previously stored bottled of water on-or off sites ( 31 , 41 ), otherwise they would rely on the local soft drink distributor. The use of couriers, for example to move the bottles through the hospital, was identified an important asset to facilitation emergency response.…”

Risks arising from long-term interruption of drinking water supply in hospitals

“…Redfern a kolektiv se ve svém článku zaměřují hlavně na oblast externích dodavatelů, kteří hrají v krizovém plánování klíčovou roli pro zvládání mimořádných událostí nebo krizových situací. Autoři také v diskuzi vyzývají ostatní zdravotnická zařízení, aby se při sestavování vlastních havarijních plánů zaměřila na případ dlouhodobé mimořádné události s postihem velkého území (17).…”

On the combination of water emergency wells and mobile treatment systems: a case study of the city of Berlin

“…Potential damage to the system can lead to the unavailability of drinking water. For example, a contamination led to disruptions in Toledo (Redfern et al 2018) and Flint (Ruckart et al 2019). Moreover, the system can be affected by natural disasters.…”