ST. JOSEPH'S MEDICAL CENTER BRAINERD, MINNESOTA ADMINISTRATION

of 6 ST. JOSEPH'S MEDICAL CENTER BRAINERD, MINNESOTA ADMINISTRATION SUBJECT: SNOW EMERGENCY PLAN In order to provide care to our patients, it is vital that we have enough staff here to meet the needs of patients, regardless of the weather. For that reason, it is the expectation of the Medical Center that staff will make every attempt to report to work for scheduled shifts during a snow storm, and that those not scheduled will consider picking up extra work to provide the necessary coverage. The Snow Emergency Plan is a complete information source to ensure that during severe snow or ice conditions, essential health care services are maintained, and employee needs (sleeping and eating accommodations, personal hygiene, transportation) are provided to personnel reporting for work. Patient and employee safety will be a high priority. Implementation of the Plan The implementation of this plan is governed by an anticipated or an actual snow storm, the severity or duration, or any combination in which it is necessary. The administrator on-call will authorize the full implementation of the snow plan. If the administrator on-call implements the snow plan, it will be paged overhead and a message will be sent out to all SJMC beepers. Department managers will be responsible to contact their units to ensure that essential personnel are advised of the plan and that adequate personnel are available. When the Snow Emergency Plan is implemented or discontinued, the time will be noted and on the next normal business day, a memo/evaluation will be sent to all managers stating the time and date the plan was implemented and discontinued. Partial implementation of the plan is the responsibility of the following individuals: Snow Removal: Maintenance Sleeping Accommodations: Registration Transportation Needs: Nurse Staffing and Facilities Personal hygiene supplies for employees: Materials Management Note: There will be occasions when weather conditions, although not severe enough for implementation of the entire plan, will affect some employees ability to travel. Transportation, prior arrangements, sleeping accommodations, along with personal hygiene supplies, may be necessary for these employees. Information Center/Travel Command Center An information center will be established for snow emergency questions. For snow related information, call 828-7593.

of 6 Personnel Practices Employees who are performing non-critical services shall be offered the option to go home early. Those employees who elect to do so may elect to receive vacation pay/floating holiday, or no pay for the balance of their normal work shift. If the snow emergency plan has been implemented, employees who arrive late for work may be paid for the regular shift if they arrive within one (1) hour of their normal shift starting time, upon approval from their respective department manager. Employees who remain at the hospital and work different shifts in addition to their regularly scheduled shifts will be paid for all hours worked. Between work periods, all employees will be completely relieved of duty and will not be paid for this non-worked time. The hours worked may make the employee eligible for overtime pay. Employees who are performing critical hospital duties as determined by their manager and who are not able to travel to the hospital for their assigned shift are advised to make travel arrangements through the transportation center. If this proves unsuccessful, these employees, after notifying the Nurse Staffing Office or their manager, will be given the option of being paid available vacation or floating holiday time, or taking the day off without pay. Employees who would like to use vacation or floating holiday hours must complete a blue Request for Paid Time slip and turn it into the Nurse Staffing Office prior to the end of the pay period. Other options employees may want to consider: Make arrangements for snow removal as soon as possible. Employees who live long distances from the medical center may wish to make arrangements for sleeping accommodations in town with friends or relatives or at the Medical Center. Employees scheduled to work a day shift may want to come in the night before if transportation is going to be an issue. Car pooling with a co-worker in your area who has a 4-wheel drive during severe weather may be an option to consider Employee Pool Employees who are willing to work in other departments shall notify the Nurse Staffing Office. Licensed Personnel performing non-critical services will notify the Nurse Staffing Office of their status. Departments such as Educational Resources, Infection Control, Information Systems, Nurse Managers and other administrative nursing personnel will check in with Nurse Staffing for a work assignment for their shift if they are able to get here. Departments will be closed if necessary to maximize our ability to provide patient care. Staff not scheduled to work who would be able to come in and help should contact the Nurse Staffing Office at 828-7592. Employee and Physician Transportation Based upon impending snow conditions, or in the event of a snow storm, the Transportation Center will be established in the Staffing Office.

of 6 The Facilities Department, registered 4-wheel drive and/or snowmobile drivers will be contacted by the Transportation Center and requested to transport employees/physicians to and from the hospital. All registered volunteer drivers will produce identification for individuals whom they will be transporting. Also, their names will be maintained on a registry for verification purposes. Employees needing transportation to or from the Medical Center must call the Transportation Center to make appropriate arrangements. The Transportation Center is authorized and responsible for ordering, from Dietary, a continual supply of coffee for the volunteer drivers. Meal tickets may be issued to volunteer drivers by the transportation center for use during hospital cafeteria hours. Mileage will be compensated as per Federal guidelines for reimbursement. Meal Tickets Employees who remain overnight, work double shifts, or remain at the hospital for departmental or Employee Pool back-up, will be issued meal certificates good for free meals during hours the cafeteria is staffed during the snow emergency. Meal tickets will be coordinated through the Nurse Staffing Office. Sleeping Accommodations Each nursing unit will forward a list of unoccupied beds to the admitting department. The Admitting Department will coordinate assignment of unoccupied beds to employees. A list of areas within the Medical Center where employees could sleep will be developed, i.e. ED Quiet Room, Same Day Surgery, etc. Environmental Services will maintain a listing of available mattresses/cots and linens in the event the number of available patient beds are inadequate. Bed assignments will be recorded on the bed assigning log. Every effort will be made to maximize utilization of beds, i.e. double rooms, etc. When the snow emergency plan is implemented, the admitting department will send out a page with that information to all SJMC beepers. Physicians and staff on-call who may need to obtain a call room should do so prior to 7:00 p.m. After that time, those empty call rooms will be assigned to other staff who may need to spend the night. Visiting Hours With the implementation of the Snow Emergency Plan, Admitting will be instructed by the administrator oncall to overhead page: St. Joseph s Medical Center has implemented our Snow Emergency Plan for our employees. For your own safety, visitors may wish to check on the weather conditions and leave now. Thank you for your cooperation. Hospital Meetings With the implementation of the Snow Emergency Plan, all non-essential internal and external meetings scheduled at St. Joseph s Medical Center will be canceled. The administrator on-call will determine which meetings are essential or non-essential.

of 6 Patient Discharging Patients who are to be discharged will be held until family, legal guardian, or appropriate safe transportation is available. Nurse Staffing Office Procedure Activation of Snow Emergency Plan The Staffing Office will make a determination if it is necessary to activate the snow emergency plan. If so, the Administrator on-call will be contacted with a recommendation to activate the snow emergency plan. Be prepared to tell administrator about the situation, i.e. how many can t get in, how busy is it, how short will you be, etc. Establish Transportation Command Center Call in additional help to man the Transportation Command Center. Contact Nurse Staffing Office employees not scheduled, Human Resources staff, Administrative Secretaries or other SJMC employees who may be able to help. Evaluate Staffing Needs Determine how many staff you need and how many can t get here. Communicate with the Transportation Command Center regarding transportation needs for the next shift. Call in staff as needed, contacting those living in Brainerd/ Baxter areas first to see if they would be able to come in and help. Offer transportation if necessary. The disaster call sheets can be used as a resource. If necessary call in an extra staffing clerk to assist with calls. Utilize All Resources Nurses working in positions which do not involve direct patient care: Education, Infection Control, Administration, Pre-Surgery, All Nurse Managers will check in with Nurse Staffing for a work assignment for their shift if they are able to get here. Call them if you do not hear from them and also remember to try them if it is a weekend. Meal Tickets Distribute meal tickets to employees who remain overnight, work double shifts, or remain at the hospital for departmental or Employee Pool backup. Sleeping Accommodations Refer employees in need of sleeping accommodations to the admitting department, ext. 7550, to reserve sleeping accommodations. Transportation Requests If transportation center s phone line is busy, complete transportation request slips and forward them to the transportation center (yellow slip hospital blue slip home). Media Notification The administrator on call will determine necessity of contacting local media with a request for SJMC employees to report to work or contact the hospital. See attached media notification phone numbers.

of 6 Physician Notification A notice will be placed in the doctors lounge to let the medical staff know that we are in a snow emergency. See Addendum A. Phone Mail Activate the snow information hot lines. Transportation Command Center Contact Facilities Department Contact the Facilities Department regarding transportation needs. The Facilities Department will serve as the primary resource for coordinating transportation needs. Provide driver with Nurse Staffing Office cellular phone if needed (218-839-7107). Contact Volunteers Contact volunteer drivers for their availability to assist in the snow emergency. Coordinate all rides for drivers and maintain contact with them. Use appropriate cellular phones for drivers as necessary (Nurse Staffing Office). Order coffee for drivers and provide with meal tickets as necessary. The list will be updated yearly. Four-Wheel Drive Rental After obtaining approval from the administrator on-call, contact Enterprise Car Rental (828-0200) to rent a four wheel drive vehicle, if necessary. (Rental is subject to vehicle availability.) This four-wheel drive vehicle shall be used for the purpose of designated personnel transporting employees to and from the hospital. Request for Transportation All requests for transportation will be placed on a transportation request slip (see attachment). Blue: Request slips for transportation home Yellow: Request slips for transportation to the hospital The carbon copy of the request slip is retained in the Nurse Staffing Office for documentation the employee made an attempt to come to work. The original form is used in the transportation center. Transportation Center The Transportation Center will schedule four-wheel drive and/or snowmobile trips as follows: All of the request slips are sorted by: (a) distance/location from the hospital, and (b) time transportation is needed. The sorted slips are then placed under the appropriate geographic area that is posted on the Transportation Dispatch Wall. Every effort should be made to coordinate transportation needs of employees to reduce the number of four-wheel drive trips to each area. (Example: If there are several employees that need transportation to Nisswa and several who to come to work from Nisswa, try to match the times of the transportation

of 6 needs. *This may not be possible in nursing since employees would be needed to come in before others could leave.) Author of Policy: Sarah Carlson, Staffing Coordinator Date of Origination: November 1998. Revised December, 1999. Revised November, 2003. Reviewed & Approved December, 2005. Reviewed & Approved September, 2008. Reviewed & Approved, November, 2011.

ADDENDUM A Transportation Command Wall LOCATION: Set up on the bulletin board in the Nurse Staffing Office. HOW TO SET UP WALL: 1. Obtain the Snow Plan file from the Nurse Staffing Office. Contents: Location Signs Paper/Note Pads Transportation Request Slips Meal Tickets Resource (Volunteer Driver Phone Numbers) Copy of Snow Emergency Plan Highlighters/Pens Stick Pins Area Map 2. Place location signs on the transportation wall in order to distance from hospital. (Be sure to leave enough space to allow requests for transportation from employees to be placed under the sign.) 3. Organize the requests for transportation into two main categories under each location. One for IN (transportation from home to work) and one for OUT (requests for transportation to home). 4. When a four-wheel driver is assigned a trip, s/he will be handed the slips from the transportation board. If the driver is coming in from out of town and will be picking up employees on the way, the transportation center will communicate the information to the driver and mark which slips the driver will be taking. 5. After transporting employees and upon return to SJMC, the driver will turn in the transportation slips. Example Transportation Wall Nisswa Baxter Brainerd Crosby Pillager In Out In Out In Out In Out In Out

Snow Information Addendum B Is Snow Plan in effect.......................828-7593 Points to Remember During Severe Weather: Make arrangements for snow removal as soon as possible. Employees who live long distances from the Medical Center, may wish to make arrangements for sleeping accommodations in town with friends or relatives or at the Medical Center. Employees scheduled to work a day shift may wish to come in the night before if transportation is going to be an issue. Car pool with a co-worker in your area who has a 4-wheel drive during severe weather. Points to Remember when calling for transportation to and from work: PLAN AHEAD. If you know you need a ride to work, call as soon as possible. Minimum of two hours in advance of evening and night shifts and ASAP for day shifts. Be Prepared to give detailed directions from the Medical Center to your home. Be available by your phone in case the volunteer driver needs help finding your home. Do Not ask the volunteer drivers to make stops at the store or pick up relatives, etc.