Healthcare, Emergency Response Agencies Come Together For Annual Emergency Preparedness Summit

HOUSTON – With hurricane season well underway, the City of Houston Office of Emergency Management (OEM) will host the annual Houston Healthcare Emergency Preparedness Summit on Thursday, July 6th from 9am – 3pm at the George R. Brown Convention Center.

This event brings together emergency planners, response agencies, and hospital healthcare providers, such as dialysis centers, nursing homes, and home health agencies for a common purpose; to better serve the needs of Houston’s most vulnerable populations in a disaster. In addition to this event, health care providers can use healthcare consulting services to help deal with challenges that are being faced by the ever-changing healthcare industry.

When an unpredictable disaster occurs, hospitals and other healthcare companies need to make sure they’re able to cope with the increased demand. To prepare themselves for this, a lot of hospitals, in particular, look to technology to help them. Technological advancements, like a digital twin (learn about a digital twin here), can help a hospital to create a virtual replica of the hospital (or other) system. This helps them prepare for a disaster as they’re then able to digitally test the impact of potential change on hospital performance. This means that they can ensure they’re prepared for most situations before they occur, giving hospitals a chance to care for all of these vulnerable people.

The focus of this event is to equip healthcare providers across the nation’s fourth-largest city with the tools and knowledge they need to develop effective and comprehensive emergency management plans. Whether it be by helping people with schemes similar to how people can get evaluated online for medical cannabis card in Arkansas to provide them with ample medication for their needs, or other more high energy relief efforts, practitioners from across the healthcare industry will provide lessons learned from recent events, as well as inform participants on their role in emergency planning and response

“The key to helping keep our most vulnerable residents safe is by equipping their caretakers,” said Rick Flanagan, Houston’s Emergency Management Coordinator, “Partnerships are essential to making sure these facilities and care providers have the information they need to be prepared.”

Every year, hundreds of agencies coordinate their emergency plans with local officials. This event provides them with an opportunity to interface with City planners and State regulatory agencies in the hope of ensuring that the contents of their plans are well thought-out, and meet State regulatory requirements.

This year’s agenda includes information on weather risks from from the National Weather Service and Harris County Flood Control District, medical community emergency response from the Southeast Texas Regional Advisory Council (SETRAC), as well as regulatory information and best practices from the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, Houston Health Department, and the Office of Emergency Management.

More information about the event is available online at houstonhealthcaresummit.org.

On-Site registration is available at at no cost. Participation is open to all hon-hospital healthcare organizations within the Houston area.