CCH hosts decontamination session

COLUMBUS - People were hosed down at the Columbus Community Hospital (CCH) Thursday, but it was not a water fight.

The hospital hosted a regional decontamination training session to train staff from area hospitals on how to be prepared for biological disaster response.

More than 45 people, representing 15 hospitals, were in attendance.

Barbara Dodge, hospital preparedness coordinator for the Center for Biopreparedness Education of Omaha, said the center was grateful CCH hosted the event.

“It shows how much the hospital cares about the community and what happens here,” Dodge said.

The goal of the training was to educate participants on decontamination, proper usage of personal protective equipment and go through the tough decision-making process.

“We are looking at disasters and mass causalities,” Dodge said, “your safety is always first because (if contaminated) you can't care for anybody and use resources that could be used for someone else.”

Participants responded to a scenario involving victims of an accidental over spray of a crop duster.

“We wanted to use something that would be realistic in the area,” she said, but the training could be used to respond to contamination from many other scenarios, such as a potential bird flu pandemic or a case of bio-terrorism.

Whether the incident involves a single individual or hundreds, Dodge said, once staff has been notified a contaminated person is approaching the hospital response should be the same.

“(The hospital) has to lock the doors because they cannot let people inside to protect the patients and staff,” she said.

Participants then practiced setting up isolation tents outside the facility, putting on protective equipment and using decontamination equipment on the mock victims wearing swimsuits.

In the crop duster situation, Dodge said, victims would be stripped of their clothing and hosed with water.

“Any chemical on the skin needs to be washed,” getting as much water on them as quickly as possible, she said. “Most chemicals are neutralized with water.”

“They must be washed thoroughly before they may enter the hospital,” Dodge said.

If it were a biological pandemic, the person would simply be stripped and isolated to prevent contamination of anyone else, she said.

Sue Deyke, emergency room director for CCH, said in addition to the tents, the Columbus hospital has an attached decontamination room outside of the ER that is isolated from patients and staff.

“It is a room to remove clothes (and) it has its own water system and drain,” Deyke said.

She said CCH also has a response team and plan in place as well as proper equipment, such as respirator masks and protective suits.

Dodge said even though CCH is adequately prepared for a biological disaster the center appreciated the facility providing a location to host the training.

This helps “hospitals to learn to teach people how to safely respond to disasters,” she said.