Emergency Managers have to answer a deceptively simple question for their facilities – if things get bad, what will we do?
For hospitals and long-term care facilities, that plan likely involves moving patients to safety or evacuating entirely – often without the use of elevators. Clearly identifiable evacuation routes and regular PA system drills may work for your ambulatory population, but for non-ambulatory patients, it’s not as simple as “in case of emergency, use stairs.”
Here at Med Sled, our motto – ‘No one left behind’ – is stamped on our products to remind you of their purpose. When it comes to evacuation, you need the right plan and right equipment to safely evacuate everyone in your facility efficiently.
Reducing Risk
Anytime a staff member or first responder needs to re-enter a compromised facility it increases risk. Those types of track-backs, particularly to re-use equipment, unnecessarily extend the duration of the process, putting staff, patients, and first-responders in harm’s way. So what’s the alternative to make sure everyone gets out safely?
Single-Flow Evacuation
Single-flow evacuation is the ability to evacuate every individual, regardless of their condition, from a compromised facility in a single operation without re-entry. With proper training and equipment, your staff should be able to address the unique evacuation needs of their respective areas, making a single-flow operation possible.
How can you achieve single-flow evacuation?
This requires the people, the training, and the equipment to move even your most critical patients to safety. A great starting point is our Evacuation-Readiness Assessment. With a few key data points, we provide a baseline readiness percentage for your facility relative to the goal of Single-Flow, or 100% equipped.
A consultative process with one of our experts will get to a level of granularity matching your exact patient breakdown with the evacuation equipment best suited.
Evacuation Equipment Basics
Evacuation equipment has come a long way. As the creators of the patented Med Sled line of evacuation sleds, we also offer NICU basket-and-racks systems and evacuation chairs along with customizable storage solutions to meet the exact needs of your facility. All of our equipment is designed to require as few people as possible while maintaining the utmost patient safety.
One size does not fit all when it comes to evacuation equipment planning, and with thousands of facilities equipped, our team is prepared to take your assessment results through to a complete equipment plan.
