News from November 2016

BCH Women’s Association: A Sweet Sale and Weekend Bazaar

The BCH Women’s Association had a busy long weekend, with activities on November 18 and 20 that netted over $1,000 in support of the Bertrand Chaffee Hospital Foundation.

On November 18, the ladies filled the administrative hallway with specialty cupcakes, pies, homemade cookies and breads, jams, pickles, and even a batch of chili. Though the sale started at 9 a.m., BCH and JBR employees and visitors started to purchase the items before they could be put out on display. Take note for next year: the treats were completely gone by noon.

The group followed this event by setting up a pop-up shop at the first annual Root 39 Event Center Christmas Bazaar on Sunday. Items from the BCH Gift Shop were available at this festive event, which featured local vendors, live music, and a visit from Santa. A special thanks to Ang Shaver and the team at Root 39 for inviting the women’s association and waiving the participation fee for this event.

The gift shop is open weekdays from 10 a.m-2 p.m. on the first floor of BCH – the perfect presents for people in your life are waiting there for you!

Thank you to the ladies of the BCH Women’s Association for their tireless efforts on behalf of local healthcare.

WRECKIT Exercise Prepares Bertrand Chaffee Hospital for Regional Emergencies

Imagine the situation: several inches of ice and wind gusts of up to 45 miles an hour have pummeled western New York. Downed power lines have overwhelmed repair crews and taken out heat sources for thousands of people. Roads in some areas are impassable. Schools, businesses and stores are closed. How will hospitals and emergency responders react?

This scenario played out in early November as part of WRECKIT2016, the Western Region Emergency Communications Knowledge and Information Test. This was a multi-county, multi-agency exercise to prepare organizations and personnel for emergency events. A weather-related event formed the basis for this simulation, and locally, Bertrand Chaffee Hospital took part.

“Emergency preparedness is something we work on as part of our regular operations,” said Brandon Frank, emergency preparedness coordinator. “Walking through a realistic scenario with other organizations in the region helps us to refine our plans and raise questions when we’re not in the middle of an emergency.”

Starting with mock weather reports early in the week, the Bertrand Chaffee Hospital team assessed how its departments would prepare in terms of supplies, staffing and other arrangements to insure the safety and care of patients and “worried well.”

“A great part of the exercise is that we were able to ask the question, ‘what if?,’” continued Frank. “Having those answers and reinforcing how decisions are made in an emergency is valuable for all types of events, especially as we approach the winter weather season.”