Fire hits home at Healdsburg Hospital

Hospital workers who mobilized during the fires, now need help themselves
For all the wrong reasons, the disaster response drill at Healdsburg District Hospital originally scheduled for this month has been cancelled.
That’s because the hospital’s staff and leadership just went through the real thing during the weeks of wildfires that burned thousands of homes and took lives in Sonoma County, Santa Rosa and beyond.
Among those impacted by the disaster were 26 hospital employees, including five who lost their homes. The Healthcare Foundation of Northern Sonoma County already has launched a workforce relief fund, boosted by a major matching donation of up to $100,000. The foundation is launching similar funds for impacted employees at the Alliance Medical Center and PDI dental surgery center in Windsor.
During the wildfire episode, the Healdsburg District Hospital set up as an emergency response center and assembled extra staff and on-call medical resources.
With two of the region’s largest hospitals (Sutter and Kaiser) closed because of the fires, the hospital handled 261 emergency visits, more than double its average weekly traffic. There were 17 patient admissions and seven transferred cases to other hospitals, one for a burn case. In other impacts, the hospital had to cancel nine previously scheduled surgeries.
“Our center functioned very well,” said Mike Fink, the hospital’s plant manager. “Communications were our biggest concern. We lost connections without Comcast and other services. We need to look at that for the future. We also need better maps and almost treat this like a war zone.”
Hospital CEO Joe Harrington, on the job for just two weeks, said he saw “lots of remarkable things” from staff responding to the fast-moving disaster. “I was very impressed with how well this little hospital played an important role in this big disaster.”
Chief of Staff Dr. Bruce Deas told the hospital’s board of directors at a public meeting last week how doctors and other staff showed up at the hospital to volunteer extra help. A Kaiser doctor, who lost his home, came to the hospital to offer help in the emergency room because his hospital was closed.
Healthcare district director E.J. Neil and wife Judy were thanked for opening their Dry Creek home to evacuated hospital staff.
At one point 17 of the hospital’s staff were busy being evacuated from the fire zones and unable to report to work.
“We want to share a ‘great hug’ to the workforce of this hospital,” said Debbie Mason, CEO of the healthcare foundation in announcing the new fire victim relief fund.
She said donations are now needed from the community to complete the challenge match by an anonymous major donor who has pledged two $50,000 grants.
Donations can be made at the foundation’s website (www.healthcarefoundation.net) or by mail to: Healthcare Foundation of Northern Sonoma County, “Hospital Fire Relief,” P.O. Box 1025, Healdsburg Ca. 95448.
Two separate funds are being organized for the Alliance and PDI workers.
An independent grant funding committee is being organized at the foundation that will collect and award individual relief request grants to workers impacted by the wild fires.
In a related effort, the foundation was the recipient of a “Cash and King” musical fundraiser at the Raven Theater on Oct. 28 to raise funds for extra mental health support and counseling for community wide counseling and support for fire victims.
“These impacts will last for months and months,” said Mason, who has natural disaster response experience from her years of hurricanes in Florida.
The Red Cross mobilized pastors and volunteers in the days after the wildfires, mainly at dozens of fire evacuation centers. “Given the tremendous shortage of mental health professionals, we know this will be a huge issue for our community as folks encounter depression and post traumatic stress,” said Mason in a community notice last week. Money donations also can be sent to the foundation and individuals should note “Mental Health Support” on their checks or submission.