At Barnes-Jewish Hospital, disaster preparedness is taken very seriously. In recent years, the hospital has been dedicated to creating department-specific evacuation plans. To aid this effort, multiple drills, both major and minor, are held several times a year to help the staff prepare for worst-case scenario situations like tornadoes, earthquakes, fires and power outages. Last month, ARC Products’ emergency evacuation device the Med Sled® played a key role in the drill.
To watch a video of the drill and see how the Med Sled® works, click here.
The disaster drill was centered around an earthquake scenario, which was 7.7 on the Richter scale. The command center was in full swing, communicating with designated hospital personnel to keep everyone updated so that patients, employees and the community had the most up-to-date knowledge of the situation.
Weighing less than 10 lbs, the sled was perfect for the hospital’s multi-story evacuation due to the its innovative stairwell braking system. The Med Sled®, which is similar to a backboard, was able to move patients quickly down the stairwells, through narrow hallways and over debris – places that hospital beds and stretchers can’t go.
KSDK-TV News Channel 5 was also on-site to catch all the action.