Thursday, September 6, 2001
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Photo by Bob Coultas (Left to right) Practical Nurse Students Pvt. Jessica Sporio, Pfc. Wilfredo Cordero and Pfc. Cassandra Jenkins, assists Col. Melissa Forsythe (middle), chief of surgical and pediatric nursing, with the return of patients to WRAMC Aug 31. The patients were relocated Aug. 28 to other federal medical facilities after a power outage. |
A transformer fire Aug. 27 at Walter Reed, cut power to the main campus causing the hospital to immediately switch to auxiliary generator power. Though patient care was minimally affected, there was concern secondary services might not meet the standards of proper care. The decision was made to move the patients. Most of them went to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda and others to Malcolm Grow Medical Center at Andrews Air Force Base, Dominion Hospital, D.C's Veterans' Hospital and Washington Hospital Center.
"When we were given the order to bring the patients back, we knew we had a lot of work to do and it took much coordination," said Col. An-drea Caldwell, acting deputy commander for nursing. "When I briefed Col. [Mary] Smith on issues she might have to deal with while I was gone this was not on the plate. She stepped up, assembled the team and covered all the bases, making sure everybody was in place knew what they had to do and essentially coordinated the patients out where they needed to be."
Caldwell said when they transported the patients out it was under "duress" circumstances. "It was getting warm and we didn't have ancillary services. The return is a little bit different. The patients are in a nice, cozy environment, we can be more leisurely about it."
According to Caldwell, the CHCS1 network host, which was down at the time of the incident, was both a good fortune and a hindrance. "It was a blessing because we had planned for light activities and it worked with us. It worked against by making our pharmacy, lab, and X-ray more cumbersome, slowing the communication process," she said.
"In any kind of operation like this, the most important pieces are coordination and communication. It's a team effort. We worked with the Medical Center Brigade in running the emergency operations center. Nutrition care, the physician staff and patient administration helped us with patient flow. The key to success is the 'We can do this' positive attitude," she beamed.
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