Welcome to Athens-Limestone Hospital

Essential Staff Functions

When the ALH Incident Commander orders a horizontal, vertical, holding area or full building evacuation, the following positions become vital to ensuring a successful evacuation. The Inpatient Area Supervisor, Inpatient Unit Leaders, Labor Pool Unit Leader and Transportation Unit Leader will automatically assume their emergency duties when Code 10-Evac is activated. The labor pool leader designates transportation groups.

A.  Inpatient Area Supervisor and Unit Leaders:
1. Determine which holding areas patients go to based on their acuity levels. SEE Appendix D.
2. Assign someone to document patients leaving the unit, using a patient evacuation tracking form.
3. Once unit evacuations wrap up, direct remaining staff members to the labor pool and report the unit's status to the incident command center and the various holding areas.

B. Labor Pool Leader:
1. Oversees the labor pool of staff members who aren't otherwise directly caring for patients.
2. Assigns a worker to sign others into and out of the pool.
3. Directs the setup of the holding areas by assigning unit leaders to each acuity's holding spot. The unit leaders in turn assign someone to track patients as they arrive in the holding areas and another employee to track patients as they leave for a receiving facility.
4. Assigns transportation group leaders to oversee evacuations by unit floor,elevator, stairwell, and discharge floor.
5. Dispatches transportation groups to various units to assist in evacuations.

C. Transportation Leader:
1. Coordinates the availability and arrival of vehicles to transport patients
through discussions with local authorities and emergency services.
2. Vehicles include ambulances, buses, helicopters, boats, and personal cars and
trucks. If hospitals allow the use of personal vehicles, make sure there are enough drivers to spare.

D. Transportation Groups:
As assigned by the labor pool leader, these groups assist in evacuations in the following areas:
1. Evacuating Floor Transportation - Moving patients from their unit to an elevator or stairway.
2. Elevator Transportation - If allowed by authorities, moving patients from the evacuating floor to the ground level by elevator
3. Stairwell Transportation - Moving patients from the evacuation floor to ground level via stairs
4. Ground Floor Transportation - Moving patients from the elevator or stairway to holding areas

US Patent Numbers 7,720,998 B2, 7,836,207