Wildfires, landslides and influenza surge are only some of the incidents to hit California hospitals this past year.  The initial response to an emergency begins with recognition that an incident may (or has) occurred. 

In cases where the incident is likely to impact or disrupt routine operations, and may require coordination of efforts and response involvement among hospitals, Health Care Coalition partners, EMS, public health, and environmental health.

Key management issues involving situational status, incident characteristics and resource capabilities must be quickly determined and communicated amongst response partners in order to establish a common operating picture. 

CHA’s Hospital Preparedness Program has developed a tool to help hospitals activate their Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) in the Hospital Activation of the Emergency Operations Plan Checklist with step-by-step instructions for activation and Hospital Incident Command System (HICSⁱ) roles.