By Mary Jo Hill
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE (Massachusetts)
Copyright 2006 Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Inc.
LEOMINSTER, Mass. — As workers at UMass Memorial — HealthAlliance Leominster Campus watched more and more patients come into the emergency department on Thursday, they knew it was time to call for a Code Gray.
The new alert is designed to bring in more help so ambulances do not have to be diverted from the hospital’s emergency room.
A laboratory technician and radiology technician were brought to the department to speed up diagnosis of patients. Extra doctors and a nurse were brought in and a rapid-response team that is available 24 hours a day to make immediate bedside assessments was put on alert.
And the hospital was able to avoid a diversion.
“Our goal is really to work very hard at not going on diversion,” said Anita D. King, the hospital’s vice president of patient care services.
HealthAlliance has only had to divert ambulances a few times, Mrs. King said. The first instance occurred in April 2005.
In March, Fitchburg city councilors asked hospital officials to appear before them to explain the diversions at the Leominster campus.
When the hospital representatives made an appearance in May, Fitchburg councilors said HealthAlliance’s Burbank campus in their city was being underused.
HealthAlliance officials countered by saying there is a cancer and rehabilitation center at Burbank and urgent-care patients are treated there as well.
At the Leominster campus, triggers need to occur before the Code Gray process kicks in, Mrs. King said.
The emergency department must have more than 25 patients, and more than 10 patients must be waiting for treatment or triage, Mrs. King said. Then othertriggers kick in, she said.
When these triggers come into play, the hospital begins bringing in more help to the department, she said.
Thursday was the first time that the just-completed Code Gray process had been followed to this extent, Mrs. King said.
“I was thrilled how it came out,” she said.
Every department will have a role to play in this process, just as if it were a disaster alert, she said.