HAP Blog

Hospitals all over the nation are juggling dozens of challenges at once, with inpatient units near capacity and emergency departments often overcrowded. We’re maintaining everyday operations while trying to stay ahead of a novel virus. Then, there are the staffing shortages.

We know what supply chain disruptions mean for health care facilities. Early during 2020, our supply chain headaches complicated our efforts to combat a novel virus, as everyday items like masks, gloves, and gowns became precious resources, and we struggled to source ventilators and other essential medical equipment needed for patient care.

While we’ve always been able to count on our flu strategies, here comes the curveball. COVID-19 has changed the landscape for infectious disease planning, mitigation, and response. Interest in public health is at an all-time high as people seek out information to make health decisions from reliable and not-so-reliable sources. This winter, hospitals could face a potential flu epidemic on top of their COVID-19 caseloads.

Whether accommodating additional attendance at a regularly scheduled event or responding to new events that are popping up, it’s important for hospital emergency managers to be tuned in to mass gathering events in their community and plan accordingly. More than ever—as we carefully monitor the spread of the Delta variant—we know that we need to prepare for these events, and that our emergency managers will play an important role to make sure our communities are ready.

It’s been more than a year since the pandemic hit Pennsylvania. The current numbers indicate that the light at the end of the tunnel is growing each day, but the fight against COVID-19 continues in the commonwealth with hospitals and health care workers at the epicenter.