WELCOMETO THE

PIMA COUNTY RACES REFRESHER TRAINING MEETING

RACES is a group of Amateur radio Operators that are organized to provide back up emergency communications between the EmergencyResponders, the Pima County Emergency Management Personnel, and the Area Hospitals.

This capability is very important when an incident occurs that causes numerous casualties.

PURPOSE

RACESRadio Amateur Civil Emergency Service

- RACES ORGANIZATION -

Pima County Health DeptDave Lennox – Senior Coordinator

Chief Radio Officer Chuck Michels KB7RFI

EOC OperationsRon Walther W7AI

Communications Manager Tom Long N7HOR

Net Operations (And Net Roster)

2M Marvin Stafford HF Bill Stanger N2MZ

Hospital Operations Owen Watson AK7AR

Members All trained professional communicators

Home Unit Group Bill Hickey AB7AA

Web MasterStan Hamnett KE7VKQ

SESSION PLAN

HAS 5 TOPICS

• HOSPITAL OPERATIONS

HOSPITAL VOICE COMMUNICATIONS HOSPITAL DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS (Existing & Future)

• RF NET COMMUNICATIONS OPERATION

• OEM/EOC OPERATIONS

• TOAD/WARRIOR OPERATIONSINCIDENT SITE OPERATION

• HOME OPERATION

Using the Internet Independent Study Programs (IS-100,200 and IS-700,800)

ALL PERSONNEL WILL BECOME FAMILIAR WITH

EOC OPERATIONS

IN ADDITION !!

• The Incident Command System (ICS)

• Emergency Communication Resource Descriptions (EMCOMM) Amateur Radio Communications Team “ARCT” System Resource Guide Descriptions

www.emcomm.org/ARCT/

http://training.fema.gov:80/IS/NIMS.asp

• Pima County RACES provides back-up emergency

communications support for the southern half of the state.

• Activation is accomplished by a “call-out” (Individually, or by Communicator or SIREN) - Secure Integrated Response Emergency Notification –

- When authorized by the OEM coordinator on duty. -

• All radios have been pre-programmed with specific frequencies in specific channels. We use channel numbers when specifying usage.

• Channel assignments will be directed by the EOC.

• Check-in will always be VHF Channel 1 (147.30 )

EOC OPERATIONS

THE EOC HAS 7 RADIOS ON LINE

1) ICOM 2820 Dual Band used for Van and Hospital Communications.

2) ICOM 2820 Dual Band used for Van and Hospital Communications.

3) YEASU Model 2200 2M used for digital packet State Wide.

4) Commercial GE 10 Channel for Pima County Health and State EOC (DRN)

5) Kenwood 2000 Hf used for Van and State Wide Communications.

6) Motorola 800 Mhz used to communicate with the State EOC.

EOC OPERATIONS

7) EF Johnson Pima County 800 Mhz for OEM

Pima County has 9 Hospitals that interact with the Office of Emergency Management.

UMC, Northwest O.V., Northwest Tucson, TMC, Tucson Heart, St Joe, V/A. St Mary’s & Kino.

EOC OPERATIONS

Sierra Vista Regional Health Center

The only other medical facility available:

Counties supported by Pima County OEM

Cochise, Santa Cruz & Yuma

HOSPITAL CALL OUT SEQUENCE

OEM Coordinator Initiates Group Page.

The coordinator forwards instructions to staff. and executes an automatic system if required.

The Hospital Call Out Staff calls Hospital Team Leaders.

Team Leaders call operating personnel and report back status to Call Out Staff.

EOC OPERATIONS

When a Hospital “Call-out” has occurred, and operators are in route to their assignments, contact the EOC on VHF Ch 1 (147.30).

Upon arrival at the hospital, set up the equipment, andcheck in to the EOC on VHF Ch 1 (147.30).

Tactical calls will be used, with the insertion of your own call sign at the conclusion of that series of transmissions.

The Hospital and Van Operations training Section will expand on the use of tactical call signs.

EOC OPERATIONS

EOC OPERATIONS

PIMA COUNTY OEM HAS 5 VEHICLES

The OEM Mini Van

The Mobile OEM Command Vehicle (Suburban)

The RACES Communications Trailer (Warrior)

The OEM Pick-up Truck

State Interoperability Communication Van (Toad 2)

OUR NEWEST ADDITION

A 2005 CHEVROLET SUBURBAN

Hospital Operations RACES Hospital Training

OWEN WATSON AK7AR

Next Training Topic

Pima County R.A.C.E.S. Website URL

http://www.pcraces.org/

Write this down for future reference.

The website is your primary source for all Pima County R.A.C.E.S.

activities.

Hospital Classroom Training

The hospital training module contains six units and

should take about thirty minutes to complete.

General operating procedures Hospital Operator Teams Event logs Operations manual Questions and answers Message forms

Training QuestionsQuestion #1:

You are sitting at your radio station monitoring traffic not intended for you. A security officer comes up and tells you that the hospital may be contaminated and you are to exit the facility now. You should:  a. Wait until the frequency is clear of other traffic, then contact Net Control and advise them of the situation and that you are vacating the premises.   b. Tell security you can’t leave until you have been officially advised to do so by Net

Control and that you will try and contact them for instructions.  c. Tell security you are headed for the door now, get up and exit the facility.   d. Contact Net Control and advise them of Securities instructions to you and request permission to leave. Once Net Control advises its Ok to leave, do a normal

equipment shutdown and then exit the hospital.

Question #2:

A hospital staff member comes to your station and asks you to send a request to another hospital for some much needed ER supplies. He/she then verbally tells you what they want in the message. You should:  a. Pay special attention to the message information as its given to you so you can remember what to say on the radio and not make any mistakes or have to go back and ask them while you’re sending the message.. b. Write down the message as it’s given to you. Re-read it to the staff member to check for errors or omissions. Get the staff members name for message form.

c. Tell the staff member that you are there only to receive patient information from the Incident Site and pass it on to the hospital administration and that you are not allowed to transmit supply requests.

d. Tell the staff member that he/she will have to write-out the message on your routine traffic message form; being sure to fill-in all the blanks and then they will have to have the hospital Emergency Coordinator authorize the message by signing the form.

Question #3:

You have been called-out as a hospital operator. You are now driving to the hospital. You should:

a. Do nothing other than drive carefully to avoid an accident as you’re needed atthe hospital as an operator, not as a patient.

b. Try and contact Net Control on the RACES 147.300 MHz repeater and let them know you are enroute to XXXX hospital with an ETA of XXXX.

c. Try and contact the Communications Van at the Incident site on the RACESrepeater and let them know you are enroute and will call them again when youarrive in the parking lot.

d. Don’t worry about contacting anyone until you have all the equipment setup atthe hospital or have relieved the current operators. Now call Net Control andlet them know you are ready.

Question #4:

A hospital “Lock Down” is:

a. Security locks all entrance doors so no one can get in when they (security) determine the hospital has reached or exceeded the Fire Department Maximum Occupancy Limits. b. Security shuts down all the elevators for other than critical patient transport.

c. All entrances and exits are locked and will only be opened to allow patients, doctors, technicians and nurses to enter or exit.

d. All entrance/exit doors are locked and no one gets in or out.

Question #5:

Four hospital staff people are sitting at a nearby table discussing the incident, patient status, supply needs etc. You may:

a. Go over to the table since they are close enough for you to still hear any calls on the radio. This way you’ll have a better understanding of what’s going on.

b. Go over to the table and sit down, but don’t make any comments unless asked to do so. This way you’re handy should they need to send a message via your station.

c. If you hear them say they need to request supplies from another hospital, go over to the table and offer to help with filling out the message form since you can do it quicker and its easier to read your own handwriting.

d. Stay at your station and don’t interfere with hospital staff functions or be nosey. Their business is not your business.

Question #6:

A reporter has been hanging around the hospital emergency command center where you are located (most hospitals) and talking to various hospital personnel. The reporter now comes to your station and starts asking questions. You should:  a. Answer all their questions accurately without adding any personal touches. If you don’t know the answer, tell the reporter so and direct him/her to the Emergency Coordinator

b. Tell them politely that you are not authorized to give out any information and direct them to the Hospital PIO or Hospital Emergency Coordinator.  c. Try to promote Amateur Radio’s value to the reporter. Tell them all about how many stations are in operation, their location and their mission.

d. As the hospital staff is very busy dealing with the emergency and really don’t have time to be answering questions from a reporter, be as informative as you can without releasing any patient information. After all, you are there for communications.

Question #7

There are two operators at your station and message traffic is nil. A staff member comes over and asks if you can help unload a supply truck that just arrived and will only take a few minutes and the boxes are not heavy.  This is an emergency situation and you are there to help anyway possible.

True False

Question #8:

My Primary Mission as a RACES hospital operator is to:  a. Provide communications to or from the hospital emergency staff, EOC, communications van and other hospitals.  b. Provide only patient number and injury code(s) as received from the incident site to hospital administrative personnel and not process any other message requests unless instructed to do so by Net Control.

c. In addition to initial patient information handling, keep EOC and the incident site communications apprised of time transported patients arrived and further to advise EOC of any patients released by the emergency room.

Question #9:

You are sitting at your radio and the hospital emergency coordinator comes over and advises the incident is over and they are closing down the command center where you are located. You are asked by the coordinator to shutdown and depart the facility soon as possible. You should:

a. Advise the coordinator you will notify Net Control of his/her instructions and will then proceed with shutdown and equipment storage   b. As this is the Hospital Emergency Coordinator and is in charge of the Command Center at the hospital, immediately comply with their instructions. You can call Net Control from your vehicle when you are done.

c. Immediately comply with the Coordinators request, put the equipment in the storage container(s) and go home.

d. Do nothing until you are advised by Net Control, the Chief Radio Officer or the RACES Hospital Manager to secure your station.

 

Question #10:

Good Emergency Communications require that before I press the PTT button, I:  a. Give thought to what I want to say and how to pass the information clearly.  b. Be precise and to the point without a lot of redundant information.  c. Don’t be wordy or use a lot of acronyms that may be misunderstood.  d. All the above.

Hospital Teams

It is planned that each hospital will have a primary “Team” of Operators consisting of a Team Leader, Asst. Leader and six additional operators.

We are required to plan for 72 hour continuous operation at each hospital.

Using six operators, we can have two operators working each 8 hour shift.The extra two operators are needed to assure that a minimum of six operators are always available for any real incident.

Northwest Oro ValleyNorthwest TucsonSt. Joseph's HospitalSt Mary’s Hospital

Tucson Medical CenterUniversity Medical Cntr.Univ. Physicians @ KinoVeterans Hospital

RACES Assignment Preference FormDate: ________Name: _________________________________ Callsign: ___________ Email: ___________________________ Home Phone: _____________Cell Phone: ______________ Pager #: _______________

Disclaimer in this area. Primary Location Secondary Location

_____ Comm Van _____ Toad/Warrior_____ EOC (County Bldg) _____ EOC (County Bldg)_____ Home Unit Operator _____ Home Unit Operator_____ Northwest Hosp. - Oro Valley _____ Northwest Hosp. - Oro Valley_____ Northwest Hosp. - Tucson _____ Northwest Hosp. - Tucson_____ St. Joseph’s Hospital _____ St. Josephs Hospital_____ St. Mary’s Hospital _____ St. Mary’s Hospital_____ Tucson Heart Hospital _____ Tucson Heart_____ Tucson Medical Center _____ Tucson Medical Center_____ University Medical Center _____ University Medical Center_____ University Physicians @ Kino _____ University Physicians @ Kino_____ Veterans Hospital _____ Veterans Hospital

Message Forms

R.A.C.E.S.

Hospital Program Message Form

TO BE USED FOR OTHER THAN CASUALTY INFORMATION TRAFFIC

09/22/04 13:52 J.Q Ham 22

DATE TIME NAME MSG. #

MESSAGE FROM: ________________________________________

MESSAGE TO: ________________________________________

MESSAGE TEXT: ____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

Date: ________________ Message #: ______ R.A.C.E.S.

Patient Transportation Information

Patient Name

(Number)

Injury

Severity

Transport

Type

Hospital Time

Patient Form

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Operator Work Log________________

Hospital

DateLocal

Operator Name/CallsignTime In

LocalTime Out

LocalOperator

Comments

         

         

         

         

         

Equipment Service and Repair Log

________________Hospital Name

Date Equip Name Describe ProblemFirst

NameCallsign

DateRepaired

ByWhom

Hospital Operations Manual   

This manual “Shall” remain with the R.A.C.E.S. Radio Equipment at all times.It may be updated, replaced or removed “ONLY” by a R.A.C.E.S. Staff Member

Hospital Operators Chain of Command

Dave Lennox - Pima County OEMHS Coordinator

Chuck Michels KB7RFI - RACES Chief Radio Officer Owen Watson AK7AR - RACES Hospital Manager Hospital Team Leader and/or Asst. Leader

For the record, “all instructions” received directly from any of the above named staff positions are to be followed. Individual names may change.

With few exceptions, all instructions and requests will be issued thru Net Control which is located in the Emergency Operations Center. Net Control is in charge of the Net and its operation.

Hospital operators will receive Patient Injury and Transport Information directly from the Incident Site operators via the Communications Van.

To call Net Control, say: “Net Control, this is <hospital name>”. Do Not Use Your Callsign. When you have made what you consider to be your last transmission, sign off as follows: “hospital name - your callsign “.

Are There Any Questions?

You have completed the Classroom portion of your HospitalTraining. You need to participate in at least three monthlyhospital check-ins to get comfortable with the facilities, the equipment and to work with your Team Leader andother team members. Your Team Leader may from time to time schedule additional on-site training.

Hospital monthly on-site check-ins are conducted the third(3rd) Saturday of each month following the weekly1:00 P.M. 2 meter net.

Congratulations

Every SundayState RACES Radio Check-in's. 3.990.0 MHz (80M), 7:30 A.M.

Every Saturday

Pima County RACES Radio Check-in's. 3.995.0 MHz (80M), 6:30 A.M.

Every WednesdayRACES Staff Meeting 8:00 A.M. Meets Meets in this conference room.

Every SaturdayRACES Member Radio Check-ins. 147.300 MHz (2M) PL 110.9, 1:00 P.M.

Quarterly

Hospital Station Check-ins. 147.300 MHz (2M), PL 110.9, Approx. 1:15 P.M. (Follows the Member Check-in Net)

Net Schedule