Hurricane Preparedness at St. Boniface Hospital

A hurricane is roaring toward your hospital. What do you need to do immediately? What do you need to do before it hits?

These were the questions posed to Saint Boniface Hospital staff during a simulation exercise held this summer. The exercise included communication with staff, partners, and the community; principles of triage; and what to do in the days and weeks following an acute emergency.

Less than a month later, St. Boniface Hospital was threatened by Tropical Storm Franklin. Forecasts and alerts were widely shared, operations teams secured the hospital buildings and grounds, and clinicians discharged patients who were well enough to return home. In the end, the storm spared Haiti. We were relieved, and we were proud to know that we were prepared for the worst.

It is challenging to prioritize disaster preparedness in the midst of Haiti’s political and humanitarian crisis, but the country remains exposed to hurricanes, flooding, landslides, and epidemics as well as earthquakes. And climate change has increased the frequency of extreme weather events.

Going forward, we plan to expand this work beyond the hospital to the neighboring areas. We will work with our partner facilities in the southwest to further strengthen our collective disaster readiness plans. By ensuring communities and health care facilities throughout the region are prepared to act effectively in emergencies, all of us will be able to mobilize faster and better—and save more lives.

Learn more about Disaster Response at Health Equity International/St. Boniface Hospital.