HOSPITAL EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAMS (HERT)
Hospital Emergency Response Teams (HERT) is comprised of multi disciplines and specialties that activate and respond during emergencies. They are often the primary hospital defense and preliminary medical care provider for patients arriving from an MCI prior to entry into and through the ED.
HERT teams are also utilized by the Hawaii Healthcare Emergency Management Coalition as a staffing resource to assist other facilities with meeting critical shortages or augment to meet medical surge needs. This resource pool consists of additional credentialed personnel. HERT personnel come from all provider types.
HERT Mission
To protect the hospital while transferring patients into the facility for medical treatment.
Accomplished by securing the hospital grounds, identifying patients, separating and prioritizing patients by needs, decontaminating those patients, and protecting caregivers from becoming victims.
HERT Roles
Select individuals from the Medical Care Branch, Hazardous Material Branch, and Security Branch
HERT Team Leader – Leadership and coordination
Safety Officer
Security Unit
Access Control Unit
Crowd Control
Traffic Control
Casualty Care Unit
Patient registration
Triage
Treatment
Victim Decontamination unit
Other Support Groups
Law Enforcement
Maintenance Team
PIO
Social Services (Family Assistance)
Hospital HAZMAT Team
Responsibilities
Perform specified functions:
Security for the hospital facility and grounds
Registration, pt. tracking, triage, treatment, decontamination, detection & monitoring
Movement of patients into the facility or on to other definitive medical care