Amateur Radio at Hospitals

Amateur radio can be used to augment existing communications capacity during heavy activity or can be used as an auxiliary communication mode when the "normal" communications channels have failed or are degraded. This can occur due to natural disasters, such as fire, flood, earthquake, or man-made situations, such as cyber or infrastructure attacks, or simple equipment failures or equipment configuration errors.

Amateur radio provides an auxiliary communications capability that is not dependent on any other commercial or private system. Procedures have been developed and equipment has been deployed to support the following types of communications:

• Hospital to PHDOC or OA EOC Communications
  • Public Health Department Operations Center or Operational Area EOC (when the PHDOC is not activated)
  • Situational awareness and coordination for medical issues
  • Message types: EMResource HAvBed Report, WebEOC Medical Facility Status, Medical Resource Request, general messages (ICS-213)
• Hospital to Local Jurisdiction EOC Communications
  • Request for amateur radio support
  • Situational awareness and coordination of local jurisdictional issues, such as police, fire, public works
• Hospital to Hospital Communications
  • Hospitals can talk directly to other hospitals to coordinate patient transfers
• Hospital to POD (Points of Dispensing) Communications
  • Situational awareness and coordination with outdoor on-prem or remote Points of Dispensing
• Hospital to Allied Health Communications (under development)
  • Equipment and procedures to enable support of communications via amateur radio at allied health facilities is in the formative stage.
• Health and Welfare
  • Those working extended assignments can let family members of know that they're OK.

• Requesting Operators
  • Hospitals request amateur radio operators through their local jurisdiction's EOC.
  • Recommended credentials:
    • Operators with the following credentials have the requisite skills needed at each location:
    • Hospitals
      • The operator (or combination of two operators) should posses at least the Type III Field and Type III Packet credentials.
    • Public Health Department Operations Center (PHDOC)
      • Voice operator should posses at least the Type II Net Control credential
      • Packet operator should possess at least the Type II Packet credential
  • The local jurisdiction's Emergency Management team will coordinate with the local amateur radio leader to determine availability and priority.
  • The local jurisdiction EOC may also request amateur radio mutual aid from the county EOC, if necessary.
• Credentialing
  • Credentialing provides a way for medical health Emergency Managers to know that the amateur radio operator has demonstrated the the necessary knowledge and ability to properly perform the radio communications duties found at a hospital or the PHDOC.
  • .
• Mutual Aid
  • Following the SEMS model, if a city doesn't have enough radio operators to support the hospitals within their jurisdiction, they can request amateur radio mutual aid through county Office of Emergency Management. The Santa Clara County RACES Chief Radio Officer also functions as the mutual aid coordinator for amateur radio.
• Training and Exercises
  • Amateur Radio Training and Exercises
    • A full suite of highly-rated training courses and exercises are provided to amateur radio operators by the county ARES/RACES team. Training covers everything from the basics up to specialist-level, across several communications roles. And regular exercises are provided to strengthen in-field performance capabilities.
  • Medical- and Health-related Exercises
    • Amateur radio operators from across the county participate in Nets and Exercises as described below.
• Amateur Radio Licensing
  • Hospital personnel interested in becoming licensed amateur radio operators can attend one- or two-day "ham crams" which prepare them for and administer the FCC exam.

• Responsibility
  • Each hospital is responsible for funding and maintaining its own amateur radio station equipment.
• Hospital Command Center Equipment
  • Summarizes complete information about essential and recommended amateur radio equipment at each Hospital.
• Hospital Station Diagrams
  • Diagrams and descriptions of minimum and recommended connectivity.

• Standard Operational Nets
  • Our Hospital Command Center Nets page describes the standard radio nets that each hospital is expected to participate in during a communications emergency
• The Monthly Hospital Net is used for testing of the equipment and to provide familiarization of radio operators to the facility.
  The link above provides:
  
  • The Net Schedule
  • The Net Script
  Hospitals are strongly encouraged to permit access to the hospital's amateur radio station so it can be used, tested and updated during this monthly net.

• The Annual Statewide Medical Health Exercise
  • Amateur radio typically participates at each hospital and at the Public Health Department Operations Center (PHDOC).
  • Injects typically include simulating a communications outage and sending certain key information via amateur radio. Examples include: EMResource Resource Request, HAvBed Report; WebEOC Medical Facility Status, Medical Resource Request, and other messages.
• Other Medical Health Exercises
  • One or more hospitals in the county typically participate in additional exercises throughout the year.
  • Depending on the objectives of the exercise, communications via amateur radio can be a valuable addition.
• Local and County Amateur Radio Exercises
• The individual amateur radio operators that support hospitals are expected to attend other city and county drills/exercises since the radio operations, message passing, and data network operating skills are the same for all amateur radio nets.
• Consult the activities calendar for details about scheduled exercises.