Newswise — If a massive disaster were to strike Indianapolis, as was the case in New York and New Orleans, local hospitals and emergency medicine staff would be tested as never before"¦stretched to their limits treating the injured, and dying and accounting for the dead.
The impact of such an emergency medical "surge" and how the local emergency medicine system would respond to a disaster involving mass casualties will be the focus of a second IUPUI conference on homeland security and emergency management.
Best practices and lessons learned for dealing with a surge of mass casualties will be the topic for discussion during a symposium from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2008, at the University Place Conference Center on the IUPUI campus, 850 W. Michigan St.
The daylong conference is the second in a series of six homeland security emergency management seminars that the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) and its Executive Education Program at IUPUI will host.
Indiana State Health Commissioner Judy Monroe will deliver the keynote address at the SPEA event. Dr. Monroe will discuss how the Israelis cope with this serious medical problem. Following her address, three panels focus on the specifics of disaster medicine.
Discussing triage and accepting emergency surge in ER rooms will be Dr. Dan Hanfling, professor of emergency medicine, George Washington University, and Inova Health Systems; Dr. Charles Miramonti, assistant professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, Indiana University, and Metropolitan Medical Response System Program manager; Dr. Michael Olinger, professor of clinical emergency medicine, Indiana University, and medical director of Indy Racing League; and, Dr. Charles Shufflebarger, director, Emergency Medicine & Trauma Center, Methodist Hospital, Clarian Health, and professor, Indiana University School of Medicine.
The panel of prominent hospital administrators and safety and security personnel who will discuss how to manage emergency surge in hospitals includes Mr. James Bickel, chief executive officer, Columbus Regional Hospital; Mr. Charles Ford, associate vice president, Emergency Preparedness Wishard Health Services; Mr. Thomas Huser, coordinator of safety and security, Clarian Health, Methodist; and Mr. Pitt Thompson, vice president operations, Clarian Health, Methodist.
A third panel on staffing for "emergency surge" concludes this important event with Dr. Crystal Jones, medical director, Acute Diseases Marion County Health Dept.; Dr. Edward Bartkus, assistant professor of clinical emergency medicine and EMS Education, IU School of Medicine; Dr. James Rinkle, Emergency Medical Services Fellow, IU School of Medicine; and Dr. Steven Wintermeyer, associate professor of clinical emergency medicine and occupational health, Indiana University Medical Group, as speakers. Emergency surge and the response to the surge is an issue of seminal importance in American life. Recent reports from the Government Accountability Office and broadcast journalism (ABC Evening News) stress that America and its communities are ill-prepared to respond effectively to a surge of mass casualties.
For the well-being of the community and the country, this conference will contribute dialogue of national significance to this important issue in an effort to help resolve it, which continues to perplex American health and medicine.
The registration fee for this conference is $100 and includes, program and conference materials, and a catered lunch.
For registration and other information, go to http://execedspea.iu.edu/register/index.asp .
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