Emergency Preparedness

Recent Storms Highlight the Need for Dependable Backup Power

Who What During this month’s storms, Hospital Council was in daily contact with PG&E to stay on top of the outages for hospitals in the North State. Despite the severity of the storms, few hospitals were impacted and PG&E quickly re-energized them, often in minutes or a few hours. There were a few hospitals that […]

Humboldt County Quake, Aftershocks Shake Residents

Who What One year to the day from when an earthquake shook Fortuna, a 6.4-magnitude quake rattled Humboldt County in the early hours of Dec. 20, 2022. Importantly, all four Humboldt County hospitals continued patient care throughout the event and the subsequent aftershocks and power outages. As of early this week, Humboldt County hospitals were […]

Recent Heatwave May Have Subsided but Work on Energy-Related Issues Continues  

From fires and floods to earthquakes — and now record-setting high temperatures — your hospitals have seen it all. The recent heatwave posed unique challenges to the state’s energy grid, and although hospitals were specifically exempted from any potential rotating outages, Hospital Council truly thanks you for conserving power when possible while ensuring patient safety […]

On-Demand Recording Offers PSPS Resources and Medical Baseline Program Information

During times of extreme weather, California’s Investor Owned Utility (IOU) power companies recommend residents have an emergency preparedness plan in place in the event power must be shut off for safety reasons. The Medical Baseline Allowance Programs enable patients who depend on power for certain conditions to lower energy rates and, most importantly, receive extra […]

Enhanced Power Safety Shutoffs Program Provides Greater Certainty

Who Member hospitals Hospital Council What For many hospitals in the north state, the threat of wildfires and the related power outages are a real threat to their ability to provide patient care and remain solvent. Most of them are served by PG&E and, thanks to improvements in weather modeling, vegetation reduction, grid hardening, and […]

Stanislaus County Discussing New EMS Agency Designation Fees

Who Hospital Council California Hospital Association Stanislaus County Member hospital leaders What The Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors voted earlier this year to withdraw from Mountain-Valley Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Agency — a Joint Powers Authority including four other counties — to create its own single-county local EMS agency to improve services, achieve greater regulatory […]

PSPS Webinar Recording and Resources Available

If you missed the March webinar on PG&E’s forecasting for 2022’s public safety power shutoff (PSPS) risk and the introduction of the latest wildfire mitigation plans, it is now available as an on-demand recording. In addition to the review of PSPS event timelines and weather forecasting, PG&E provided a detailed explanation of a wildfire prevention […]

PG&E to Give PSPS Updates on Webinar

As Hospital Council and CHA continue to work with PG&E to address the challenges our members and communities face with planned and unplanned power outages, a complimentary, members-only webinar is planned for March 29 from 10 to 11 a.m. (PT).