Dr. Jay Ham, served as a physician at Island Health for over 30 years. Today, he continues to care for his community as an active participant in our local Emergency Preparedness Committee (EPC). This committee is comprised of local and county-wide organizations—including Island Health—which supports the planning and preparedness for Natural Disasters and other events that could impact communities around us.
The cornerstone of the EPC’s success lies in ongoing discussions and drills to prepare for changing scenarios. We know that communication is vital during disasters and that in its absence, chaos ensues. Island Health relies on both wired and wireless telephones. Additionally, there is overhead paging and a set of 20 handheld 900 MHz radios placed at key locations.
We talked to Dr. Ham who had this to say, “Disasters can occur unexpectedly. In Anacortes, the most severe possibilities include earthquakes, tsunamis, extreme storms, chemical spills, multiple traumas, wildfires, and cyber/terror incidents.” Ham added, “Should any of these happen, Island Health is ready to tackle them with established procedures, triage, patient management, emergency supplies of power, food, and water, decontamination tents, emergency communication capabilities, and the activation of Incident Command procedures as outlined by FEMA.”
All these communication methods are tested regularly. Moreover, the hospital features a ham radio room equipped with five radios and antennas on the roof, operated by a group of FCC licensed ham radio volunteers, including Dr. Ham. Volunteers engage in a weekly exercise with the DMCC region 1 (Disaster Medical Coordination Center), which encompasses all hospitals and numerous clinics across the five surrounding counties (Whatcom, San Juan, Island, Skagit, and Snohomish). In a disaster scenario where phones and the internet fail, these radios can communicate both by voice and digitally (via email and FEMA forms).
Island Health Foundation is proud to support these efforts with a small grant to the EPC.