BID-Milton CODE BLACK 11/16 - 11/17/19 beginning at 20:00 Hours

Please be advised that BID-Milton will be going on Code Black beginning Saturday, 11/16/19 at 20:00 hours for scheduled construction work at their facility and it will end on Sunday, 11/17/19 at 06:00 hours. Ambulance services are being requested to seek alternate transport destinations for patients during this time frame. Further details regarding the Code Black can be found below.

Code Black– Ambulance Diversion

Event: Scheduled water shut down – Complete Facility (Domestic ONLY, does not impact fire suppression devices)

Period: Date and Time (From): Saturday, November 16, 2019 @20:00 hours

              Date and Time (Until): Sunday, November 17, 2019 @ 06:00 hours

Reason:

BID-Milton is currently conducting a construction project of its new pharmacy to ensure compliance with revised USP 797 regulations. The date of this event has been selected to ensure completion of the project within the identified regulation timeframes.

As part of this project, there is a need to reconfigure the domestic water supply piping in the construction area. The hospital does not have the ability to limit water shut off to specific areas of the hospital; therefore it will be necessary to schedule a shutdown of its domestic water supply for the entire facility for the period identified previously. At the direction of the hospital’s facilities leadership no other alternative scenarios are possible specific to water supply management for this project. It is important to note: This shut down will not impact the hospital’s fire suppression devices.

Response

As described below the hospital has activated its Incident Command System process to optimize the planning, response and recovery of this scheduled event. 

Impact:

Apart from the Emergency Department, it has been identified that the hospital will be able to maintain limited operational capabilities for departments that are normally open during this period. The hospital has selected this period since it is normally sees the lowest volume of patients in its Emergency Department between late Saturday evening and early Sunday morning.

Plan:

Emergency Department:

—  BID-Milton is requesting ambulance diversion during this period – requesting start 2 hours (20:00 hours) prior to actual shutdown (22:00 hours) to reduce volume of high acuity patients at time of shutdown.

—  Patient’s arriving by private transportation will be rapidly triaged, a medical screening exam performed and if the patient’s medical management exceeds the capability of the hospital at that time – they will be transferred by ambulance to firstly an alternative Beth Israel Lahey Health System Hospital or a non-system hospital based upon patient needs and bed availability (Other entities have been notified of potential). The hospital will work with the ambulance service to cover the cost of these transfers – rather than the patient.

—  The hospital has coordinated with Brewster Ambulance Services to have an Ambulance permanently stationed at all times outside the Emergency Department to expedite patient possible transfers.

—  Patients that do not require transfer will be managed and either admitted (< 20% of ED volume patients) or discharged.