If you were in Northern California last Thursday, there’s a good chance you felt the 6.0-magnitude earthquake, whose epicenter was south of Lake Tahoe. Many of our member hospitals did as well, and within 30 minutes our RVPs had connected with 37 hospitals to get status updates; within 90 minutes, RVPs had been in touch with over 100 hospitals.
Thanks to planning and preparation, your hospital buildings reacted exactly as they are supposed to during an earthquake. Today, more than 96% of all patient care buildings have met the state’s rigorous seismic safety construction standards — the remaining buildings are required to come into compliance no later than 2025. This means patients and workers will be safe when the next earthquake strikes.
However, a number of California hospitals have not yet been able to meet the 2030 seismic operational standard, which requires that all hospital buildings be operational after an earthquake.
Understanding the stability of our buildings and the deep experience our hospitals have in preparing and managing disaster response, CHA continues to advocate to modernize the 2030 requirements. The team is working to address the 2030 seismic standard by refocusing the requirement on post-event emergency medical services and giving hospitals until 2037 to comply.
Last week was a good reminder of how our hospitals are prepared today for disasters. Hospitals are committed to being there to care for all, but they must have flexibility to adapt in times of crisis.
Changes ahead
When the next issue of Council Connect arrives in your inbox in two weeks, it may look like a little different. We’ll be introducing some new items and changing the format to make it more reader friendly. Stay tuned.