A
5200 Harry Hines Blvd.
,
Dallas
,
TX
75235
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- Main Retail Café: Mon - Sun | 6:30 a.m. - 7 p.m.
- Starbucks Café: WISH Building | Mon - Fri | 5:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
- Park Market Café: Mon - Fri | 6:30 a.m. - 7 p.m. | 8 p.m. - 4 a.m. | Sat -Sun | 7 p.m. - 4 a.m.
- Monday - Friday: 9 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
- Saturday & Sunday: 10 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
- Monday - Friday: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
- 214-590-8831
- Monday - Friday: 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
- Monday - Friday: 7 a.m. – 7 p.m.
- Monday - Friday: 6 a.m. - 11 p.m.
- Saturday: 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. Sunday: Closed
- Holiday hours may be different
Posted: 9/29/2014
New hospital built with flexibility, surge capacity
With hurricane season in full force, residents of Dallas County should be braced for any storm that may make its way up from the gulf. In the event a disaster does strike, Parkland Health & Hospital System staff stands ready to handle whatever Mother Nature’s fury unleashes. And with the opening of the new hospital in 2015, Parkland will be even better prepared to serve the community in any disaster.
“The hospital was planned for the unknown and designed with flexibility in mind,” said Kathy Harper, RN, Vice President of Clinical Coordination. “Although we have private patient rooms in the new hospital, in the event of a disaster in the community, our surge capacity will enable us to easily place two patients in one room.”
If a disaster is chemical or biological in nature, the new Parkland is designed so that airborne pathogens are contained and not spread through the ventilation system. Staff also has the ability to restrict access to certain parts of the hospital in order to isolate patients who may have been exposed to a pathogen.
“Having the ability to restrict access is incredibly important in a disaster situation, but it will also be important during outbreaks of influenza or other communicable diseases,” said Jorie Klein, RN, Parkland’s Director of Trauma and Disaster Preparedness.
Taking care of disaster victims is nothing new for Parkland. In 2005, staff treated more than 21,000 people displaced from the Gulf Coast who made their way north to flee the rising water. Parkland and other local facilities set up a mobile hospital in what was once Reunion Arena and then the Dallas Convention Center, seeing more than 500 patients per day in the makeshift medical facility.
“As part of our disaster preparedness, Parkland staff participates in two drills each year,” Klein said. “Those drills enable us to identify our strengths and where there is room to enhance or improve our plan based on the after-action review of our disaster response. We practice various disaster scenarios over and over to ensure that when a real event occurs we are ready for an influx of patients who may have minor cuts to life-threatening injuries.”
Although there is a well-established plan in place for the current hospital, Klein and her team are working on the emergency response plan for the new hospital.
“There are things we will do the same, but many things will be different due to technology advances and structural improvements,” Klein said. “Most important is training our staff so they know what to do and where to go in the event an emergency response code is called. We need to be prepared to handle any event whether it is natural or man-made. Another key element of the training is to teach staff to prepare their homes and families for disasters and how to respond.”
Included in the new hospital’s disaster response is a decontamination unit which has already been redesigned to allow for more capacity.
“Things may look good on paper, but you never know how well they will work until you actually test and retest,” Klein said. “We want to make sure that we are prepared for anything that may come our way.”