Glendora Emergency Response Communications

Hospital Disaster Support Communications System

Mar 08, 2005

Greeting GERC hamsters!

Here is pop quiz for you licensed ham operators in the Glendora area. I edited it from the www.HDSCS.org website. Its easy and the answers are either true or false:

1. If the phones at a hospital in Glendora failed right now, would anyone at the hospital realize that Amateur radio could be used as a backup, both for internal and external communications?
2. If so, would the hospital person know how to activate hams to come to the hospital?
3. Does the activation system include multiple points of contact, in case the first call is unsuccessful?
4. Does an organized group of knowledgeable, prepared hams exist to support the Foothill Presbyterian Hospital (106 beds) or the Huntington East Valley Hospital (92) beds?
5. Would you and other hams be willing to ?“drop everything?” and respond to an isolated communications failure at one of these hospitals? To go to a hospital immediately after a widespread disaster strikes?
6. In a widespread emergency, will hospitals be one of the first agencies supported by local hams, not an afterthought?
7. Are there enough hams in Glendora to support our hospitals in addition to commitments to GERC, GEARS, Red Cross, government, and so on?
8. Is everyone?’s equipment always organized and ready, with batteries charged?
9. Do you drill regularly with your hospitals?
10. Do these drills include actual participation from hospital staff, not just a check-in to the area net from a hospital lobby?

Scoring: If the answer to any of these questions is no, then we can not say that Amateur radio is adequately supporting hospitals in our area. What are you going to do about it?


I strongly recommend that all GERC hams visit www.hdscs.org to learn more about the Hospital Disaster Support Communications System in Orange county, the premier example of a very successful group of public service hams.

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