Savannah’s Memorial: Preparedness, Teamwork

Dr. Ramon Meguiar, Memorial Medical, Savannah

Planning and preparing for the unexpected and disasters is routine at Memorial University Medical Center (MUMC) in Savannah. Located near the Atlantic coast, the hospital regularly conducts hurricane drills as well as other disaster events.

Memorial has spent considerable time reviewing its crisis plan and how the large regional hospital responded in February 2008 to an explosion at the Imperial Sugar refinery located in nearby Port Wentworth, Georgia.

Dr. Ramon Meguiar, chief medical officer at the hospital, says that he respected was how smoothly the hospital’s crisis preparedness worked and how staff responded with treatment.

Dr. Frank Davis, Memorial Health, Savannah

“It is a collection of working together, that teamwork, that definition of roles that is hard to rehearse but when you get a chance to do it, it cements (among everyone) how important it is. If you have a plan that you put on the shelf, people won’t know what to do.

Dr. Frank Davis is Memorial’s assistant chief of trauma surgery and critical care. Looking back on what was learned, Dr. Davis stresses the need for a solid communications plan, one that does not rely solely on cell phone service, which can become overloaded.

Dr. Davis echoes the importance of frequent reviews and rehearsal of a disaster plan, saying it is more than just a piece of paper.

Dr. William Wessinger, Memorial Health, Savannah

When disaster comes to Memorial, Dr. William Wessinger makes certain there are enough resources, in all areas. As medical director clinical resource management, he says the greatest lesson of a positive nature that was learned from the tragedy at the Imperial Sugar refinery is that people rose to the occasion.

“We have very strong people at all levels in the healthcare profession. It’s a team approach, everyone got in there and did their jobs.”

Dr. Wessinger says, “We learned we need to improve our coordination and communications to make everything safer.” And he lists three top priorities for any major trauma medical center:

Dr. Jay Goldstein, Memorial Health, Savannah

1. Hire good people, nurture them and strengthen them.
2. Conduct preplanning and a lot of it. Practice is extremely important
3. Teach the ability to subordinate personal needs to focus on the job at hand.

“The recurring emergency training went a long way toward securing the disaster experience,” says Dr. Jay Goldstein is medical director of emergency services at the hospital. The repeated training held several times a year is absolutely mandatory in order to effectively respond.

“(The plant explosion) changed me in the sense of you don’t see that type of disaster and that extent of harm in such a short time,” reflects Dr. Goldstein. He says that people still come to him in supermarkets and public places to discuss what happened and to express appreciation. Such words of thanks bring him a lot of personal satisfaction and inner-peace.

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