With California entering its fourth year of a record-breaking drought hospitals are continuing to examine ways that they can conserve water. Hospitals and other healthcare facilities are particularly water-intensive organizations. According to data compiled by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, large U.S. hospitals used about 133 billion gallons of water in 2007. The amount used per bed was roughly the same as the annual consumption of a four-person household.

Facing this demand coupled with increasing regulation on water use hospitals are exploring a variety of ways to conserve water. National organizations, such as the American Hospital Association, are developing and releasing tools including the Sustainability Roadmap for Hospitals to assist healthcare organizations in reducing their water and energy consumption. Modern Healthcare has published an article outlining some of the steps California healthcare organizations have taken here and Healthcare Facilities Management has a similar article discussing irrigation regulations here.

On July 14, 2015 YNHHS-CEPDR conducted a joint webinar with Greywall Software to discuss adapting disaster playbooks for hurricane scenarios. The webinar discussed how the playbook was adapted from other little or no-notice scenarios, such as Ebola, to an event that often has multiple days' worth of notice.

The webinar specifically addressed how YNHHS-CEPDR and Greywall Software leveraged the playbook format to:

• Adapt a little- or no-notice response into a time-phased approach that outlines activities at 24-hour intervals
• Incorporated information and actions from external agencies and organizations
• Enhance situational awareness across the YNHHS network and beyond
• Maintain accountability through all phases of preparedness, response and recovery
• Align activities with public agencies throughout the disaster

Additionally, Greywall Software provided a demonstration of their web-based Veoci system to showcase the playbook's functionality in a virtual environment. The demonstration highlighted the software's ability to:

• Be easily configured for a hospital or healthcare system 
• Dynamically assign tasks to specific individuals within or outside of the system
• Share information with external stakeholders in a secure manner
• Maintain accountability for task assignments and escalate notifications at regular intervals
• Provide a quick reference for Command Staff to understand what activities have been performed or are outstanding

YNHHS-CEPDR recorded the webinar and has made it available for free via the following link, for more information please contact us:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HurricanePlaybookWebinar

For the past several years, the National Weather Service (NWS) has been exploring the strengths and weaknesses of the Watch, Warning, and Advisory system used to convey our expectations of hazardous weather.  The system has been in place for decades, and it serves a critical need for the public and NWS partners for decision-making purposes.

The NWS is considering whether the current system is the best we can do to accomplish our hazard messaging goals and promote a Weather-Ready Nation. The answer to this question rests, in part, with your needs and the experiences you've had using the present system.

Please share your experiences by completing the survey

The survey asks you to consider a particular hazardous weather event where the messaging did (or did not) work well from your viewpoint, or from the viewpoint of your community or audience.  You may also provide input on your general experience with specific types of hazardous weather situations rather than focusing on a particular event. 

The survey can be taken in about 20 minutes if you have information from an event (or your general experience) already in mind.  You may also complete the survey in more than one session; your completed responses will be saved for up to one week. Submissions are due by August 15, 2015.