Health (emergency) care after a blackout

“Dear participants of the workshop „Die Gesundheits(not)versorgung nach einem Blackout” (Health (emergency) care after a blackout),

today I am pleased to send you the summary of the workshop, in the form of the new guide “Die Gesundheits(not)versorgung nach einem Blackout (PDF, German)”, and at the same time to point you to a further new guide, “Mein Krankenhaus auf einen weitreichenden Strom- und Infrastrukturausfall vorbereiten (PDF, German)” (Preparing my hospital for a far-reaching power and infrastructure failure). Some things overlap, others add further detail.

I hope the guides will give you and your organisation some ideas for further preparatory measures. They are of course not exhaustive. If you have specific suggestions or gain further useful experience, please let me know. I will gladly produce an update. Please also feel free to share the documents in your networks, so that other people and organisations who could not attend the workshop are reached as well.

Today I met a part-time student from Switzerland whose master’s thesis on blackouts I am supervising. He has already looked into the subject in some depth and recently learnt in a conversation that a very important Swiss hospital receives goods and services twice a day from an outsourced company. The head was very surprised when the scenario was described to him and had to admit sheepishly that there were neither precautions nor stocks for it. Even though of course nothing like that exists here ;-), I can only reiterate the words of Karl-Dieter Brückner, head of the Vienna ambulance service: question your expectations of third parties and do not let yourself be fobbed off with “everything is covered”. You – or rather all of us – could be in for a rather nasty surprise. We still have some time, although I was somewhat surprised recently by the title of a conference paper by Austrian Power Grid: “Blackout – how vulnerable the power grid already is and what dangers further interconnection will bring”. Such a clear statement had not been heard before.

In the south-east Styrian town of Feldbach, every household received a blackout leaflet last week. So far I have not heard of any panic reactions. This also bears out the head of the Disaster Research Unit in Berlin, Martin Voss, who was recently quoted as saying: “But the authorities avoided the debate for fear that it would cause panic among the population. An unfounded worry, according to the disaster expert: people could quite well engage with the danger of an emergency without panicking.” Yes, we can and must confront people with this unpleasant subject. Anything else would be irresponsible! For me, one key finding from the summary is that above all the district administrative authorities must become active and organise decentralised health (emergency) care. They have to take on an essential coordinating role between the various players in the health system, because, unlike in other areas, many things here can no longer be organised at municipal level. I will also put this to the provincial and district authorities accordingly. Please approach your municipal and district administration from your side as well. Secondly, a prepared national emergency regulation appears indispensable – one that sets out which safety and quality standards remain essential even in the event of a blackout, and what can be temporarily suspended. Without close cooperation we will not achieve the goal of maintaining at least two weeks of decentralised health (emergency) care, in order to prevent hospitals from collapsing and to provide (emergency) care for as many people as possible. Let us get on with it, even though there is little to gain and a lot to lose.

With this in mind, I wish you every success with your personal and organisational preparations!

Kind regards Herbert Saurugg

DOWNLOAD THE EVENT DOCUMENTS (PDF, German)

Herbert Saurugg, MSc Expert in preparing for the failure of vital infrastructure +43 660 3633896 office@saurugg.net www.saurugg.net (German) – Vernetzung & Komplexität (Networking & complexity) – systemic perspectives and networked thinking

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