Clark got her wish, and more, the following spring, when LiveProcess literally went live at nearly 150 Georgia hospitals, thanks to a department of health grant obtained by the Georgia Hospital Association.

Clark quickly got to work setting up LiveProcess at Grady Health System, loading documents such as standardized plans and policies, as well as emergency response plans, organizational charts, key contact information, job action sheets, incident checklists and pre-assigned emergency response positions so they would be accessible to all hospital staff. She and her team also worked on preparedness questionnaires using the LiveProcess hazard vulnerability analysis tool.

Because LiveProcess essentially networks other licensed hospitals in Georgia, Clark in time knew the incident command structures at those hospitals, as well as key contact information, hazard vulnerabilities, and availability of beds and specialized medical equipment.

To her pleasant surprise, LiveProcess was quickly embraced at Grady Health System. Clark muses that the biggest challenge implementing LiveProcess at Grady was getting personnel to remember the passwords they had been given. “I’d go to department head meetings and say ‘you all have been sent passwords,’ and they’d say, ‘what passwords?’” Clark said. “There was a relatively short learning curve on this.”

Later on, a Federal Department of Energy grant allowed Clark to establish a dedicated emergency command center on the Grady campus. The classroom-style center is outfitted with two ceiling mounted LCD projectors, laptops, redundant wireless access, electric roll-down screens, phones and two big screen televisions for training, live monitoring and presentations.

LiveProcess in Action...

On June 8, 2006, just a few short months after implementing the system, Clark took LiveProcess for a spin in a full-scale exercise conducted by the National Disaster Medical System. The exercise, a mock plane crash, hijacking and ambulance collision, engaged hospitals in more than 20 Georgia counties.

A few days before the actual drill, Clark started a LiveProcess event log asking participating hospitals to update their contact information, and whether they were capable of handling head injuries, ventilator patients and hemodialysis. Messages began pouring into the event log from hospitals updating their bed capacities and on-call information. One hospital posted its current critical care unit bed count. Another long term acute care facility told the group it specialized in respiratory care, and could handle ventilator patients. Another facility posted a message that while it wasn’t equipped to handle such patients, it would accept them if another facility could provide a cache of ventilator equipment.

At 10:42 a.m. on June 8, Clark posted the following announcement on the LiveProcess event log: “Hi everyone. Exercise. Wheels down on first plane; 30 stretchers, 21 ambulatory and 3 critical care (crushed pelvis and vent dependent). Starting to unload plane. Will call ERs to place patients after we see which go to HCO, LTC or shelter.” Moments later, hospitals began posting responses they had activated their disaster plans and were standing by.

At 11:24 a.m., Clark posted this announcement: “Exercise. Pilot relays of an incident on the plane. Four possible stabbings on plane. Critical to go to closest HCOs. Could change our transport list. More posting in a few minutes. Exercise. Exercise. Exercise.” Three minutes later, Clark updates the event log: “Update. Exercise. 28 litter, 38 ambulatory, 4 critical care (1 of those a vent and 1 stabbing critical and unconscious).” One hospital immediately replies: "We can help keep ambulatory patients out of ER if all they need are meds. We can accommodate approximately 2 dozen as long as we have the meds needed. What are we talking about?”

At 11:55 a.m, Clark posts the following: “Exercise. EMS informs us ambulance hit by 15-passenger van on Windy Hill. No injuries on unit, nothing known about van at this time.”