HICC to transition to daily huddle June 5
As its COVID-19 response continues to evolve, Hershey Medical Center will deactivate the Hershey Incident Command Center (HICC) in the Harrell Health Sciences Library and transition to a daily leadership huddle beginning Friday, June 5. Participants in the virtual meeting will focus on maintaining situational awareness and clear lines of accountability for resolving issues through the traditional management structure.
“We are creating a new model that makes supporting COVID-19 part of our normal day-to-day operations and transitions ownership and accountability to operational leadership to manage,” explains Deborah Berini, Hershey Medical Center president. “This process is about sustaining and improving what we put in place to support the care of COVID-19 patients and allows us to continue our clinical recovery work.”
Staff should route COVID-related clinical and operational questions to their management team to escalate through the normal chain of command. Please note that the HICC phone number and email address will be deactivated. The command center will stand ready for reactivation should the situation warrant future emergency response. The library likely will not reopen until July.
HICC’s move to a new model of operational readiness reflects similar changes that have taken place across the health system, with incident command centers at both Penn State Health and Penn State Health St. Joseph now operating virtually.
For the system as a whole, the Penn State Health incident command staff and leadership huddle at 4 p.m. daily. The Crystal A meeting location remains set up in the event reactivation is necessary.
At St. Joseph, Emergency Management personnel staff a scaled-down command center that primarily monitors the drive-through testing location and the availability of supplies. Briefings occur at 8 a.m. daily, with others scheduled as needed. The center will remain operational into the near future, maintaining the ability to quickly scale up in the event of a resurgence.
If you're having trouble accessing this content, or would like it in another format, please email the Penn State College of Medicine web department.