Trauma Transfer Triage During a Regional MCI: Seeing the Trauma Center as a Rate Limiting Factor in Delivering Patient Care During a Regional MCI
Regional Trauma Centers serve as the backbone for the care of the nation’s trauma patients, serving daily to receive patients not just from the field but from other hospitals in the region. From Community Hospitals to Critical Access Hospitals facilities across the country routinely receive patients that meet trauma criteria, stabilize them and then transfer them out to their regional Trauma Center. But what happens to those transfers during a regional mass casualty incident when the regional Trauma Center is managing the same incident? How do you manage transfers to the limited resource that is the Trauma Center when those same Community and Critical Access Hospitals are receiving patients beyond their scope of practice from EMS and personal vehicle arrivals?
Often referred to as a “master of disaster”, Paul Mikita is currently the Assistant Director of Corporate Office of Emergency Management for the RWJBarnabas Health System. He received his Master’s Degree in Emergency and Disaster Management from American Military University, a Bachelors of Science in Biology from Cook College – Rutgers University and an Associated Degree in Nursing from Raritan Valley Community College. Paul holds multiple emergency management and nursing certifications including being a Certified Emergency Nursing from the Boards of Certification for Emergency Nurses, a Certified Emergency Manager from the International Association of Emergency Managers, and a certification as a National Healthcare Disaster Professional from the American Nurse Credentialing Center.
Paul is a healthcare emergency management expert who has developed an interest in combining the concepts and principles of patient care and emergency and disaster management to the healthcare sector. His ability to develop practical strategies towards not only emergency and disaster response but also education and training, relies on his over 30 years of pre-hospital, nursing, and emergency management expertise. Known as a straight shooter, Paul prides himself on being able to rely on his own knowledge and experiences to translate the often foreign and sometimes confusing principles of emergency and disaster response for the healthcare provider.
When Critical Resources are not Available: A Command Center Response to the Baxter IV Shortage
Hurricane Helene hit the Florida coast September 2, 2025 with dramatic impacts up into the Carolinas and the Southern Appalachian area. On September 27, 2025, Baxter’s North Cove site was significantly impacted by the rain and storm surge resulting in a flooded facility and road damage making it inaccessible resulting in a significant decrease of product being shipped to their customers. Orders decreased by approximately 60 %, meaning organizations received 40% of the normal allocation. This large Midwest healthcare system quickly implemented the system command center structure to manage rapid decision making and process change implementation throughout the system. During this presentation we will discuss: • Key steps and critical information evaluated to assist in rapid decision making • System incident command structure supporting crisis change management during this incident • Tools utilized to support rapid decision making, communication, and change management during a crisis We hope our presentation will provide valuable insights and guidance for other healthcare organizations interested in strengthening their incident response to lengthy resource shortage incidents. We also welcome feedback and suggestions from the audience to further improve our practice and learn from each other.
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Dr. Bulson currently serves as Corewell Health’s Director, Business Assurance. Dr. Bulson is instrumental in the development of a comprehensive system level healthcare emergency preparedness and response program. She is responsible for program design, development, implementation, operational readiness and resilience, situation management, and business continuity for Corewell Health – a large integrated health system in Michigan. She represents healthcare emergency preparedness on many federal, state, and regional healthcare preparedness planning committees. Dr. Bulson has also been a guest lecturer for healthcare emergency preparedness for multiple local nursing programs as well as several healthcare emergency preparedness conferences and has co-authored several articles related to healthcare emergency preparedness and response. Her research interests continue to be related to impact and outcomes of emergency preparedness education on healthcare workers and organizational resiliency.
Pauline Lai, Director, Supply Chain Purchasing, having the privilege to lead and innovate in various sectors, has over two decades of experience in managing diverse supply chains and procurement across healthcare, automotive, and aerospace industries. In 2021, she joined Corewell Health, where today she oversees a dedicated team of over 60 professionals as Purchasing Director. This dynamic team is responsible for purchasing, demand planning, and document services for the entire Corewell Health System. Pauline's team manages over 250 suppliers and processes half a million purchase orders annually, totaling $4.5 billion in supply chain spend. Pauline’s focus has been on driving efficiency and innovation within purchasing processes and building more robust systems to combat supply chain disruptions. These efforts have resulted in significant cost savings, enhanced operational efficiency, improved supplier relationships, and increased supply chain resiliency. This hard work contributed to the Corewell Supply Chain Team winning the 2024 GHX Elevating the Clinically Integrated Supply Chain Award.
A River Runs Through It
On December 26, 2024, Duke University Hospital experienced a major water line failure that led to significant flooding within the Emergency Department. The flooding disrupted multiple critical service lines and necessitated a complete diversion of emergency services, creating cascading impacts across the regional healthcare system. This presentation will provide an in-depth look at the hospital’s immediate response to the flooding, including the rapid establishment of an alternate Emergency Department care area. It will also highlight the coordination efforts with neighboring hospitals, EMS agencies, and community leaders to maintain continuity of care and minimize disruption to regional emergency services. Key lessons learned and strategies for future preparedness will be shared.
David Marsee is an accomplished emergency management professional with over three decades of service in public safety and disaster preparedness. He spent 31 years with Durham County Emergency Services, where he held multiple leadership roles including Paramedic, EMS Education Specialist, Fire Captain, Assistant Fire Marshal, and ultimately Senior Emergency Management Coordinator.
Throughout his career, David has developed extensive practical experience in emergency management, having deployed to numerous large-scale incidents as part of the North Carolina Incident Management Team, both within the state and nationally.
David currently serves as the Duke Healthcare Preparedness Coordinator, where he collaborates with regional healthcare organizations to develop, train, and exercise emergency preparedness plans that enhance resiliency and coordinated response capabilities.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Fire Science and Emergency Management and a Master’s in Health Administration. David is a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) through the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), a Master Exercise Practitioner (MEP), and holds specialized certificates in Continuity of Operations and Infrastructure Protection.
The Goal Standard: Aligning Continuity Wins with Performance Expectations
Strengthening hospital resilience requires more than enterprise-wide planning—it demands empowered leaders at the department level. This session will explore the design, implementation, and impact of MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Business Continuity Leads and Champions Program, a scalable model that engages frontline staff and leaders through meaningful performance goals to drive continuity planning across clinical and operational units. Participants will learn how this approach improved preparedness, increased ownership, and led to a dramatic increase in active continuity plans and exercises across the institution. The session will include implementation strategies, metrics of success, and practical tools that attendees can adapt and apply within their own organizations.
Cherie Plouff is the Business Continuity Officer at MD Anderson Cancer Center, where she leads system-wide efforts to strengthen clinical and operational resilience during both planned and unplanned disruptions. Cherie has served in a variety of leadership roles within the institution and as a clinical provider across multiple oncology specialties. With over a decade of experience as a practicing physician assistant and APP leader, Cherie brings a unique clinical lens to business continuity planning, emphasizing patient safety, continuity of care, and provider workflows during emergency events.
She holds a Doctor of Medical Science degree in Healthcare Administration and Management, a Master of Physician Assistant Studies, and is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality as well as a Certified Healthcare Provider Continuity Professional. Her work has been recognized with numerous awards internally at MD Anderson and at national conferences.
Cherie frequently presents on continuity planning and provider resilience, and has authored and co-authored a range of publications on quality improvement, patient safety, and clinical operations. Her strategic focus is on embedding preparedness into routine operations and building a culture of readiness across all levels of the organization.
Angela’s work spans utility and IT downtime planning, infrastructure risk mitigation, and functional exercises for clinical operations. She has played a key role in institutional responses to major events such as COVID-19 and extreme weather emergencies, often leading virtual command centers and cross-functional planning teams. Her career includes leadership roles in hospital operations, overnight clinical services, and graduate medical education, where she has driven process improvement, interdepartmental collaboration, and staff development.
Angela holds a Master of Business Administration from Texas Woman’s University and a Bachelor of Science from The University of Texas at Austin. She is trained in Clinical Safety & Effectiveness and is a Six Sigma Yellow Belt, as well as nationally certified in continuity planning for healthcare systems. She has been a featured speaker at national conferences including AHEPP, the Preparedness Summit, and The Joint Commission Resources Emergency Preparedness Conference. With a practical, operations-driven mindset and a passion for readiness, Angela brings over 17 years of experience in aligning emergency preparedness with patient care excellence in high-pressure healthcare environments.
Building a Pediatric Mass Casualty Dream Team: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Hospital Readiness
Pediatric mass casualty incidents (MCIs) require seamless coordination across multiple specialties. To enhance preparedness and response, our hospital established a Multi-Disciplinary Pediatric MCI Response Group, uniting engaged emergency medicine, intensive care, anesthesia, operating room, and surgical teams alongside nursing leadership, hospital leadership, and emergency management. Meeting bi-monthly, the team collaborates to refine MCI notification, staff recall, space preparation, patient triage, operating room transfers, documentation, and patient disposition enhancing efficiency and throughput during crisis situations. Initially formed prior to a school shooting, the team’s role became crucial after the St. Louis Central Visual and Performing Arts shooting, strengthening collaboration and engaging traditionally hard-to-reach stakeholders, including surgeons. Forming collaborative partnerships has significantly enhanced preparedness and response to pediatric mass casualty events. This initiative underscores the importance of proactive planning and continuous improvement in ensuring the best possible outcomes during emergencies.
Michele Tanton is an Emergency Preparedness Manager at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. She has worked for BJC HealthCare for 18 years and has 10+ years advanced emergency management training and experience. Michele served as the hospital’s Incident Commander throughout the COVID-19 response. Michele currently serves as a St. Louis Medical Operations Center (SMOC) Duty Officer; co-chair of the Missouri Pediatric Advisory Council; is a member of the Missouri Hospital Association Emergency Preparedness Systems Advisory Committee; member of the Association of Healthcare Emergency Preparedness Professionals (AHEPP) Forms & Resources Committee; and former Chair of the St. Louis Area Regional Response System (STARRS) hospital preparedness committee.
Michele has developed, taught, and presented emergency management topics including hospital incident command, armed violent intruder response, Stop the Bleed™, mass notification and emergency management technology, and evacuating large capacity Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs).
Michele earned her master’s degree in safety, security, and emergency management from Eastern Kentucky University in 2019 where she graduated summa cum laude. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Columbia College. Michele is an active member of the Association of Healthcare Emergency Preparedness Professionals and the International Association of Healthcare Security and Safety. Michele obtained certification from the International Board for Certification of Safety Managers as a Certified Healthcare Emergency Professional (CHEP) in 2017.
Chaos in Cowtown: A Focus in Crisis Communications. Lessons Learned from the Largest Multi-Agency Disaster Exercise in Fort Worth
In September of 2024, all Fort Worth hospitals, in collaboration with Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo, Fort Worth Office of Emergency Management, and Fort Worth Fire Department participated in a full scale mass causality exercise that simulated a building collapse during the Stock Show and Rodeo. With thousands of visitors, a high profile event venue, and healthcare agencies activating MCI, patient reunification, and communication plans the exercise tested the limits of coordination, messaging and response under pressure. This presentation explores the critical role of crisis communication during a multi-agency event and the importance of strategic preplanning with community partners to understand who is going to say what, when the emergency happens. Attendees will gain insight on how healthcare emergency management and public relations teams collaborated with local, regional, and city partners to ensure accurate, timely, and effective communication amongst agencies. Key takeaways will include lessons learned for the exercise, strategies for identifying communication gaps amongst community partners, and best practices for managing messaging and public information during high visibility emergencies. Whether you’re involved in hospital disaster response or coordinating disaster drills with community partners; this session will provide practical strategies to strengthen your communications framework before the next crisis hits.
Kaysey Pollan, MBA, CHSP, is the System Director of Preparedness and Continuity at Cook Children’s Healthcare System in Fort Worth, Texas where she oversees the emergency management, environmental safety, business continuity, PBX Call Center, and Solutions Center Dispatch Center departments. She has over 20 years of emergency management experience and focuses on internal and external relationship building and collaboration pre disaster. She specializes in the field of exercise design and development with an emphasis placed on realistic, meaningful, and beneficial trainings and exercises.
She has served in multiple emergency management leadership roles in the public and private sector and has overseen her healthcare organization’s response to multiple disasters including Hurricane Harvey, Ebola Outbreak, and Covid-19.
She is the recipient of multiple recognitions in her field including; the North Central Texas Council of Government Regional Service Excellence award in 2013 and 2025, Cook Children’s Peak Performer (Employee of the Year) in 2018, and Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council Foundation Healthcare Hero in 2021.
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Kim Brown, APR, is the co-founder of Story and Strategy, a boutique public relations firm based in Fort Worth, Texas. She’s fascinated by the evolving media landscape and the way we communicate.
Prior to launching her PR firm, Kim served as a broadcast news producer, working in newsrooms across Texas and New Mexico. She also held the position of Director of Public Relations at Cook Children's Health Care System, where she worked for 10 years.
Kim has led high-profile crisis communications efforts that garnered global attention and managed strategic communications for issues impacting millions of Texans. She’s passionate about the critical role communications professionals play in difficult and disaster situations. Her work is anchored in authenticity, transparency and the human element of communication.
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimbrownapr/
Instagram: @storyandstrategypr
Facebook: @storyandstrategypr
Website: storyandstrategypr.com
Preparedness on Call: A Guidebook for Hospital Emergency Management
Hospital emergency management is uniquely challenging. Even those with emergency management experience in other settings often face new and unexpected issues when adapting community public safety models to the hospital environment. ASPR TRACIE is developing a new resource, Hospital Readiness and Response: An Online Guidebook, to provide less experienced emergency managers and others in leadership positions in a hospital’s emergency management structure with a concise, readable resource that covers the key operational aspects of preparedness, response, and recovery across a variety of domains and through a hospital lens. The Guidebook also helps healthcare coalition members and other readiness and response partners understand the needs and priorities of hospitals in their community. With the assistance of the Association of Healthcare Emergency Preparedness Professionals (AHEPP), whose organization and members are contributing by authoring or reviewing select chapters, ASPR TRACIE has published several chapters online and will continue to add new ones as they are completed. During this breakout session, presenters will provide an overview of the Guidebook, share how it can assist members in meeting AHEPP’s Professional Standards Competencies for Healthcare Emergency Management and Preparedness, and engage with attendees in discussion of future chapters and content emphasis.
Rachel Lehman is the ASPR TRACIE Acting System Owner and Director. She previously she served as an analyst in ASPR’s Division of Critical Infrastructure Protection where she led communications, helped manage the Healthcare and Public Health Sector Partnership, and worked on all-hazards risk assessment for the healthcare sector. Prior to joining ASPR, she supported the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencies Office of Research and Development working on chemical risk assessment.
Dr. Hick is a faculty emergency physician at Hennepin Healthcare and a Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School. He serves as the Associate Medical Director for Hennepin County Emergency Medical Services and Medical Director for Emergency Preparedness at Hennepin Healthcare. He served the Minnesota Department of Health as the Medical Director for the Office of Emergency Preparedness and from 2002-2014. He currently serves as the Senior Editor for ASPR’s Technical Resources, Assistance Center, and Information Exchange and Advisor to the Office of Health Care Readiness. He is an expert on hospital preparedness and crisis medical care issues and has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers dealing with hospital preparedness for contaminated casualties, disaster standards of care, and surge capacity.
Pediatric Preparedness in Action: Using Live Child Actors in a Full-Scale Exercise
In an extensive full-scale exercise conducted at a children’s hospital, 28 volunteer child actors and their parents were utilized as simulated patients to test pediatric-specific emergency response capabilities. The exercise featured realistic moulage, wet decontamination operations in the emergency department, and coordination with the National Guard Medical Detachment. A fully activated hospital command center managed incident operations, integrating efforts across multiple departments and external agencies. This case study explores the planning, execution, and evaluation of the exercise, which involved broad collaboration with community partners including EMS, law enforcement, city and county emergency management, and the regional healthcare coalition. The use of child actors introduced unique challenges and insights into pediatric triage, treatment, and communication. Key lessons learned include the importance of tailored training for pediatric scenarios, the need for enhanced coordination in decontamination procedures, and the value of real-time incident command operations. The exercise revealed critical gaps and opportunities for improvement in planning, training, and response. This presentation will provide actionable recommendations for healthcare preparedness professionals seeking to strengthen pediatric disaster readiness through immersive, community-integrated exercises.
Julianne Ehlers serves as the Emergency Management Program Coordinator for Primary Children’s Lehi Hospital Lehi Campus and Taylorsville and Behavioral Health Campus. In this role, she leads efforts in disaster mitigation, preparedness planning, training, and emergency response coordination.
As an experienced healthcare emergency manager, she has been involved in local, regional, and national emergency management efforts in planning, training/exercises, response, and mitigation for cross-jurisdictional healthcare partners. She was the Program Director for the National EMS Information System, sponsored by NHTSA, leading the program in strategic operations, and facilitating the collection and utilization of national EMS data. Julianne has also served as lead instructor for several healthcare disaster courses at FEMA’s Center for Domestic Preparedness.
She holds a master’s degree in emergency management/Homeland Security from Arizona State University, a bachelor’s degree in emergency services administration, and is a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) from the International Association of Emergency Managers.
An All-Hazards Approach to Ambulatory Evacuation Planning
Healthcare facility evacuation is a rare, but sometimes essential, action in response to emergencies including fires, utility failures, and severe weather events, among others. While the evacuation of patients in all settings can pose risks of adverse outcomes, the dangers of evacuating certain high-risk patients, such as patients with limited mobility or who have been sedated for procedures in ambulatory areas, can be less appreciated and possibly less anticipated than evacuating patients from traditional inpatient settings. In December 2023, two incidents occurred at Mass General Brigham (MGB) ambulatory locations that resulted in evacuation of patients under procedural sedation. Following after-action reviews of these events, MGB developed robust ambulatory incident management structures, an evacuation risk stratification framework, and an ambulatory evacuation planning guide that was piloted at two outpatient surgical centers. In this presentation, we will provide an overview of the resources and lessons learned from the ambulatory evacuation pilot.
Eva Stanton serves as a Senior Program Manager, Emergency Preparedness within the Mass General Brigham Department of Emergency Preparedness and Business Continuity. In this role, she supports Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Mass Eye and Ear (MEE) overall emergency preparedness programs. She specifically manages the MGH hazardous materials (HazMat) program, MGH and MEE digital downtime program, and outpatient surgical center readiness. Eva has over seven years of experience working in public health and health care emergency preparedness and response. She received her BA from Columbia University and her MPH from Harvard University.
Haylee Manning is the current program manager on the emergency preparedness team at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, part of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system in Boston, Massachusetts. With a background in public health and emergency management, Haylee has a deep understanding of the complexities involved in disaster response and recovery. She earned a BS in Public Health from University of Massachusetts Amherst and is currently pursing her MPH in Public Health Practice at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Beyond the Tourniquet: Equipping Staff with Tools, Training, and Support for Armed Intruder Response
As armed intruder and active shooter incidents continue to rise in prevalence, it is essential that all health system staff members develop a foundational understanding of relevant safety concerns, response strategies, and extremity bleeding control techniques. Training efforts have demonstrated that providing education alone, without equipping individuals with training and resources to respond, does not constitute a comprehensive preparedness program and can often result in exacerbating fears and concerns in pointing out only the consequences, but not also the resources in the aftermath. To enhance readiness, the health system has expanded its approach to include not only online and in-person education, but also drills and the implementation of a bifurcated decision framework MSHS developed for the care setting designed to support both immediate patient care needs and address the emotional health and well-being of staff – ultimately; run-hide-fight OR secure-prepare-fight. Both fully supported by senior and executive leadership; diminishing the staff fear of reprisal in the aftermath. Further, the organization is deploying its customized version of Stop the Bleed kits across the entire enterprise, encompassing hospitals and ambulatory care sites, with a total distribution exceeding 600 kits. These resources are intended for use by both staff and the public to improve emergency response capabilities system-wide and are just one component to this comprehensive approach.
Don Boyce, System Vice President for Emergency Management, joined Mount Sinai Health System in 2018. He led the Emergency Management Department as they played an integral role during the Mount Sinai response to the COVID pandemic impacting NYC and worldwide. Previously, Mr. Boyce served as Deputy Assistant Secretary and Director of the Office of Emergency Management at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. In this position, he was responsible for executing the collaborative effort responsible for public health and medical oversight on behalf of all federal agencies in support of state and local partners. He also served as the primary point of contact for the Department of Defense, Defense Support for Civil Authorities, and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency during civilian responses for domestic medical emergencies and mass fatality operations.
For more than 30 years, Mr. Boyce held roles in health care and emergency management. He served as Director of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency and the Regional Administrator for the Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency. He also served as a Paramedic/Instructor for the New York City Emergency Medical Service and as Director of the Special Investigations Unit with the New York City Fire Department. Mr. Boyce received his Juris Doctorate from Brooklyn Law School and holds Paramedic (NYS), Firefighter (CT and NYS) and Business Continuity credentials. He served on the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations Emergency Management Advisory Board and currently serves on the USD HHS Critical Infrastructure Advisory Council – Health Sector Coordinating Council. He is also a member of the national consortium of Academic Healthcare Emergency Managers and a recognized national expert lecturer on emergency management and business continuity.
Meghan McPherson is Director of Emergency Management Education, Training, and Exercises for the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City. In this role, Meghan leads the development, planning, and execution of a robust training and exercise program across the health system. Most recently, she served as the Director of Emergency Management for Mount Sinai Queens hospital on the front lines of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to joining the Mount Sinai Health System, Meghan was Assistant Director of the Center for Health Innovation (CHI) at Adelphi University, served as the program coordinator for emergency management graduate programs, and concentrated her work on community-based social resilience initiatives. Prior to her work at Adelphi, Meghan spent four years as both the Grants Manager and the Energy Assurance Program Manager in the Governor’s Office of Energy and Planning in New Hampshire. While in this position, she supported the State Emergency Operations Center during disasters by ensuring continuity of the state’s energy supply. She also worked for James Lee Witt Associates in Washington, D.C. and deployed multiple times to Louisiana to support recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina.
Meghan is a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM), Certified National Healthcare Disaster Professional (NHDP-BC), Certified Healthcare Provider Continuity Professional (CHPCP), and is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Pracademic Affairs journal. She is also a member of the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security Executive Leaders Program Cohort 2102. Meghan earned her BA in political science at the University of New Hampshire and her Master of Public Policy (MPP) with a concentration in national security policy from The George Washington University.
Empowering Healthcare Emergency Management through the Bronze-Silver-Gold (BSG) Framework: A Hospital-Based Model for Crisis Response
As healthcare systems face increasingly complex emergencies—from cyberattacks to mass casualty events—the need for intuitive, scalable, and clinically responsive emergency management models has never been greater. This presentation introduces a modified Bronze-Silver-Gold (BSG) framework for crisis management and emergency response, adapted and implemented at William Osler Health System, one of Canada’s largest community hospital networks. Rooted in international best practices from the UK and Europe, the BSG model separates decision-making into three clear levels: Bronze (Operational): Clinical and support teams manage the immediate response. Silver (Tactical): Managers and directors coordinate resources and interdepartmental support. Gold (Strategic): Executives oversee organizational risk, reputation, and system-wide resilience. This session will demonstrate how the BSG model can complement or replace rigid Incident Command Systems (ICS) in healthcare by offering greater flexibility, role clarity, and operational efficiency. Participants will explore case examples (e.g., infrastructure failure, white powder incident) and lessons learned during implementation.
Richard has over a decade of experience in emergency management and business continuity, with a strong background working in both municipal and territorial settings. He currently serves as the Manager of Emergency Management and Business Continuity at William Osler Health System. Richard holds a Master of Disaster and Emergency Management, is a Certified Healthcare Emergency Manager at the mastery level, and is also a Certified Business Continuity Professional (ABCP) and has enhanced his leadership skills through Harvard's National Preparedness Leadership Initiative.
Having worked in various roles across municipal regions, including York Region and Peel Region, as well as in the Northwest Territories, Richard brings extensive knowledge and experience to his role. As a neurodiverse professional, Richard values a range of cognitive approaches to problem-solving, believing that diverse perspectives lead to innovative solutions. He integrates these insights into his work, fostering inclusive and adaptable strategies. Richard is passionate about business continuity and advocates for a comprehensive, integrated approach to ensure organizational resilience. He is dedicated to aligning business continuity planning with organizational strategies, fostering preparedness, and maintaining continuity across diverse sectors, particularly within healthcare and government settings
Outages with Intention: Turning Planned Disruptions into Business Continuity Practice
Planned outages—while often disruptive—can be powerful tools for testing and strengthening hospital resilience. At MD Anderson Cancer Center, the Emergency Readiness Specialist collaborates across clinical and operational teams to manage high-risk outages with minimal disruption to patient care. This session explores how outage coordination not only protects throughput and safety but also provides real-world opportunities to test, develop, and embed business continuity plans. Attendees will learn strategies for outage triage, cross-functional planning, virtual command centers, and turning construction-driven disruptions into readiness-building exercises for unplanned events.
Angela’s work spans utility and IT downtime planning, infrastructure risk mitigation, and functional exercises for clinical operations. She has played a key role in institutional responses to major events such as COVID-19 and extreme weather emergencies, often leading virtual command centers and cross-functional planning teams. Her career includes leadership roles in hospital operations, overnight clinical services, and graduate medical education, where she has driven process improvement, interdepartmental collaboration, and staff development.
Angela holds a Master of Business Administration from Texas Woman’s University and a Bachelor of Science from The University of Texas at Austin. She is trained in Clinical Safety & Effectiveness and is a Six Sigma Yellow Belt, as well as nationally certified in continuity planning for healthcare systems. She has been a featured speaker at national conferences including AHEPP, the Preparedness Summit, and The Joint Commission Resources Emergency Preparedness Conference. With a practical, operations-driven mindset and a passion for readiness, Angela brings over 17 years of experience in aligning emergency preparedness with patient care excellence in high-pressure healthcare environments.