Healthcare

Hurricane Sandy has shown us that there is a thin line between functioning systems and a breakdown in life safety protections.   One need only look at New York City's Bellevue Hospital and NYU Hospitals to see that cascading system failures put lives at risk.  The dramatic image of patients being carried down flights of stairs illustrates the risk.

With floods, earthquakes and other calamities can come power loss, fire and blocked streets and no way for first responders to help.  It is times like these where onsite safety equipment like fire extinguishers, AEDs, first aid kits and medical oxygen go from being the first line of defense to the last resort protection in all facilities particularly in healthcare.  The factors that make fire extinguishers and other safety assets important don’t change in a catastrophe, faster response and having devices in the right place as the right time is vital.

The types of safety assets that should be monitored 24x7?  Fire extinguishers, medical oxygen tanks, AEDs, crash carts, emergency evacuation sleds and chairs, flash lights, emergency lights and more.  Be ready,  monitor your equipment.

At en-Gauge, we are always keeping our eyes open for Fire Extinguisher Success Stories,   We

 ran across this story earlier on FayObserver.com.....

A malfunctioning air conditioner was blamed for a fire in a second-floor office at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center on Ramsey Street (In Fayettville, AR) on Wednesday morning, authorities said.

The fire was reported about 11 a.m. in a file room and was put out with a fire extinguisher in about 5 minutes, said Nixon Spell, a battalion commander with the Fayetteville Fire Department.

Some people were briefly evacuated, Spell said, but no patients were affected.

The en-Gauge system is installed and monitoring fire extinguishers at a number of VA Medical Centers,  we're proud to be helping make our VAs safer.  Having extinguishers monitored 24 x 7 x 365 provides en-Gauge customers with the confidence to know that their extinguishers are where they are supposed to be, accessible and in working order when an emergency occurs.  For more information about how the en-Gauge electronic fire extinguisher monitoring system works, watch this short video.

A 2009 survey by the Joint Commission an independent, non-profit organization that accredits health care organizations found that the number one challenge indicated in maintaining the environment of care was fire safety equipment maintenance.

Among the Joint Commission's requirements is the monthly physical maintenance and inspection of fire equipment. Monthly physical inspections can be costly, especially in time and labor required.

The good news is that like the NFPA and the ICC, the Joint Commission now recognizes en-Gauge's technology as an equivalent to the manual 30-day fire extinguisher inspections. Health care facilities that adopt en-Gauge can reduce risk, stay code compliant and potentially reduce the cost of extinguisher ownership by some 60% over 12 years.

Read the full release for details.

Something as simple as missing a written record of monthly extinguisher inspections could result in this hospital losing its Medicare and Medi-Cal funding. Complying with fire extinguisher codes can be made simpler with electronic monitoring, which both the NFPA and ICC allow in lieu of 30-day inspections. The en-Gauge electronically monitored fire extinguishers also create an on-going record of extinguisher safety and compliance -- giving you one less thing to worry about.

So said Lexington, KY Fire Battalion Chief, Brent Frizzell, referring to a nusring home employee's use of a fire extinguisher to battle a blaze preventing it from spreading beyond one patient's room. Thankfully no one was seriously hurt. Having properly located and charged fire extinguishers are key to managing life safety and reducing risk.

Where there's smoke, there's fire. And that was the case at a Houston Hospital. Fortunately the fire was put out with an extinguisher before anyone was hurt. It's a good thing the extinguisher was acccessible and ready to use so that there was no significant damage or worse, loss of life.

This is starting to look like a pattern. 

MiddleTown Ohio: 

According to the Middletown Division of Police, the teen walked into the electronics department at the Towne Boulevard WalMart just before 9:15 a.m. Friday and lit his jacket on fire.

Reports said the man, from the 2000 block of Arlington Avenue, used a lighter and tissues stuffed in his pocket to ignite his jacket, which became "severely burnt."

Bookmark/Search this post with:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

The big story here is the job the nurses of Botsford General Hospital in Farmington Hill Michigan did in durring a fire.

Fire officials credit the quick-thinking and well-trained staff at Botsford General Hospital for keeping patients safe during a fire at the five-story facility on Grand River on Thursday evening. 

"When we arrived, they already had their evacuation process going," said Denny Hughes, FHFD inspector. "The nursing staff had removed the patients -- they did a great job and they deserve a lot of credit."

Bookmark/Search this post with:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•