In Ohio Valley Medical Center's emergency room, five radios hang on the wall to pick up transmissions from emergency vehicles. Noisy and at times confusing, the radios will soon be replaced by a touch screen computer system.
The upgrade will be made possible by a $20,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security, OVMC Corporate Safety and Security Director Brad Simms told the hospital's Board of Directors after their regular, closed-door meeting Friday afternoon.
The new radio system will use a computer with a flat touch screen, roll away keyboard and wireless mouse to control all the radios feeding into one place. Simms said the new system should be in working order by April 1. In case of emergencies, a laptop computer could load the system for an offsite facility, and radios will be retained as backup.
Simms appeared before the board to deliver an annual summary of corporate safety, highlighting the past year and future plans for OVMC and East Ohio Regional Hospital.
A success from last year that Simms hopes to repeat this year is the pandemic drill staged at OVMC Oct. 3. Simulating a flu pandemic, the hospital and Wheeling-Ohio County Health Department tested how many flu shots they could distribute in a morning.
"We were able to give 545 flu shots in a three-hour period," Simms said. "We probably could have doubled or tripled that if we were pushed."
OVMC will stage another flu shot drill in October, and the Belmont County Health Department will work with East Ohio Regional Hospital to have its own drill.
The other major accomplishment of 2008 Simms highlighted was the hospital switching workers compensation insurance providers from Brick Street Insurance to Old Republic Insurance. Simms said that so far, the only complaints he's heard about the new provider were from individuals whose claims were denied.
"Any time you have a switch, you can expect problems," Simms said. "We have no problems."
Working with Old Republic, Simms hopes to establish a better "return to work" program for the hospital this year. While the hospital tries to return injured employees to work as quickly as possible, sometimes physical limitations set back the process.
"In emergency situations, it's difficult to have people who cannot respond to the emergency," Simms said. "If a nurse's aide returns to work and can only lift 20 pounds, they can't be moving people all day."
The new program will keep a shift fully staffed as an injured worker returns as an extra member of the team, gradually integrating the injured member.
Before the board, Simms also highlighted the results of a study to see if OVMC and EORH could exist on their own without outside help for 96 hours. OVMC has enough water and fuel for its generators to run about 96 hours, but EORH does not have an adequate water supply.
Simms' presentation was part of his annual report to the Board of Directors. No indication was given of what was discussed during the closed door meeting prior to Simms taking the floor.