Indiana Guard Reserve: Columbus Regional Hospital Incident (13-21 June 2008)

8/8/2019 Indiana Guard Reserve: Columbus Regional Hospital Incident (13-21 June 2008)

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Indiana Guard ReserveColumbus Regional Hospital Incident13 - 21 June 2008

COL Hayes, LTC Bastain and MAJ Grigdesby



Background and Purpose• On 6/7/08, a 500 year flood hit the community of Columbus and its Regional

Hospital sustained $130 million in damages. The basement of the hospitalflooded to a depth of 9 feet. It had contained its pharmacy, pathology, radiology,laboratory, medical records, information technology, and food services / kitchen.

The flood waters completely filled the basement in about 45 minutes.• Although there was no loss of life, the resulting hazards were presumed to be

both environmental and biological. As clean-up operations continued throughend of mission on 6/21/08, approximately $20 million in salvaged equipment hadbeen staged in the hospital’s north parking lot. The IGR provided security for thehospital and these salvaged assets. The IGR presence fostered public safety bymaintaining a secure perimeter and deterring theft of hospital assets.

• This briefing was presented to Jim Vickel, CEO, and Martha Myers, Manager of Risk & Security for the Columbus Regional Hospital on Friday, 1800 hours 20June 2008.

• IGR Labor hours, miles traveled and the number of soldiers participating hereinare final numbers. For purposes of the briefing, data was shared with thehospital as of 0900 hours 20 June 2008.



Associated PressCoverage



Who We AreThe mission of the Indiana Guard Reserve is tomaintain, organize, and train military forces capableof timely and effective response; in support of ordersfrom the Governor under all conditions prescribed bythe civil statutes of Indiana; to provide militaryassistance to civil authorities under conditions of disaster or emergency and to assume the state'sresponsibilities of the Indiana National Guard upontheir mobilization into federal military service. Themission was expanded after 9/11/01 to include careand counseling for family members of the IndianaNational Guard once they are federalized.



The Alert• The IGR was notified by Indiana Department of

Homeland Security of the mission on June 12th.

Joint Forces Headquarters gave verbal approvalof the mission.• The IGR implemented the Incident Command

System, designated a Commander and issued awarning order later that evening.

• IGR Soldiers arrived during the morning hours of June 13th. The IGR was able to relieve theIndiana National Guard four hours earlier than ithad expected, allowing its soldiers to continue itsflood relief mission further south.



Who Came to Help• As of 8 am on June 21st :

– 96 soldiers answered the call to assist you. As avolunteer organization, the IGR has no funding topay its soldiers for their time away from work or tocover their incidental expenses.

– 4,929 hours and 15,466 miles were driven by theIGR to help the Hoosiers in this community.

• Each worked an average of 51 hours• Each drove an average of 161 miles round trip



Mission Statistics21 June 2008, 0800 hrs

Hours MilesUnit Worked Driven Soldiers

1st Brigade 342.750 3,308 11

2nd Brigade 651.634 3,330 113rd Brigade 408.217 562 54th Brigade 611.300 1,458 14HHD 720.317 2,920 23Support Command 2,038.783 3,128 28Training Academy 156.283 760 4

4,929.284 15,466 96

Average Hours worked per soldier: 51.347Average miles driven per soldier: 161.104



Incident Chain of Command

• COL Bernard J. “Bernie” Hayes, IncidentCommander

• LTC James E. “Jim” Bastain, Deputy IncidentCommander

• MAJ Harold W. “Hal” Grigdesby, Operationsand Plans Officer

• SFC Jerome M. Nowaczyk, NCOIC• SSG Wayne E. Loney and SSG Darrin J.

Cox, Assistant NCOICs



Questions• How was the Guard called out to assist you?

Can anything be improved in that process?

• How did the Guard / IGR interface with youupon arrival? How might we become moreeffective?

• What was the value of the IGR to your initial

recovery operations? – Control of access for contractors and employees – Emergency medical responses – Surveillance of high dollar value salvaged items



How was the Guard called out to assist you? Cananything be improved in that process?

Martha Myers:

Your COL Pridgen made the request through theBartholomew County EOC. I don’t know who hadcalled the Marines and National Guard when theyarrived on the scene June 7th.

If he had not been in the right place at the right time,we probably would not have known to ask for theIGR. You need to get the word out on the process toactivate the IGR.



How did the National Guard / IGR interface with

you upon arrival? How might we become moreeffective? Martha Myers:

The National Guard established its command post under a tent immediatelyopposite the ER entrance, which became the location for Hospital Security. Wehad no common radio communications with the National Guard, but we did meetwith them daily.

I thought the IGR’s transition with the National Guard went well. You had anopportunity to do a joint walk-through with them. And, you brought radios thatallowed Hospital Security, the Indiana State Police and the IGR to all participateon the same radio network.

You might consider adding one or two IGR MEMS trained individuals to theNational Guard first responders to facilitate your transition with them and toprovide them any other help.

I would recommend that you all develop a checklist of things you require for logistical support. We had assets we made available to you for use later thanwe should have (the on-call surgeon’s residence, clean towels, surgical masksand latex gloves, etc.)



What was the value of the IGR to your initialrecovery operations?

Martha Myers:

Your ability to be here from June 13th through the 21st allowedus time to get organized for our own recovery. We had disaster plans, but the extent of this disaster was far greater thananything we had imagined.

The IGR will be replaced with our best employees. HR hasbeen vetting our employee pool to find the best, mosttrustworthy people to replace you. You are already aware of thedollar value of the items salvaged so far. There’s much morestill inside. I think this gives you some idea of how valuable theIGR has been to Columbus Regional Hospital in this crisis.



Adjutant General• We encourage you to provide feedback

to MG Umbarger, the Adjutant General,on his soldiers (the Indiana NationalGuard and Indiana Guard Reserve).

• Contact him atJoint Forces HeadquartersATTN: MG R. Martin Umbarger, Adjutant General2002 S Holt RdIndianapolis, IN 46241

Indiana Guard Reserve: Columbus Regional Hospital Incident (13-21 June 2008)

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