NEW YORK (APBnews.com)
-- For more than a year, hospital workers nationwide have been
bracing for one single night: New Year's Eve 1999.
Just as millennium watchers fear that Y2K glitches will crash
computers, traffic control systems, telephone service and medical
devices, emergency rooms expect a larger-than-normal spike in
admissions of injured carousers, and maternity wards anticipate a
stampede of couples vying to be the proud parents of the first baby
of the millennium.
Maternity wards, at least, are off the hook. Maybe the pressure
was too much, but most of the couples trying to conceive on April 10
(the date that gives a woman the best odds of giving birth on Jan.
1) were disappointed.
While it remains to be seen just how wild the parties are, people
with life-threatening or chronic medical conditions are concerned
about whether 911 services will be operational, medical records will
be accessible and doctors and specialists will be available. Here's
what the experts say.
911: Could be dicey in some areas
If you dial 911,"someone will answer," pledged Mark Adams of the
National Emergency Number Association (NENA) in an interview with
APBnews.com.
Just last month, a White House report on White House report on
Y2K preparedness warned that only half of America's 911 call centers
had confirmed that they were ready. But a survey from NENA indicates
that more than 98.5 percent of the centers say their equipment is
now Y2K compliant, which means they can continue to provide enhanced
services -- like pinpointing where a person is calling from -- once
the date changes.
"Sometimes there is a reluctance just to fill out another
survey,'' said Adams. In other cases, centers didn't complete their
Y2K compliance efforts until the second half of the year.
Centers that did not report being Y2K ready may not have fully
fixed problems with "a piece of recording equipment or a mapping
program that's helpful but not necessary,'' said Adams. In those
instances, callers may have to tell the operator their address
instead of the computer immediately spotting it.
Public safety officials say the 911 problems that could arise
over the New Year's weekend may have nothing to do with computer or
phone systems. Rather, they may result from people wanting to test
the emergency system or too many people picking up their phones to
make calls at once.
"What everyone is concerned about is that people continue to use
911 responsibly, realizing that it's for true emergencies,'' Adams
said.
Ambulances thoroughly vetted
Ambulance services have combed their systems for weaknesses from
top to bottom. "We've checked out everything from communications and
ambulance equipment to lighting," said Steve Haracznak, executive
vice president of the American Ambulance Association (AAA) in
Washington.
"For us, the biggest thing was that many of our ambulances had to
get new radio systems," said Haracznak, whose organization
represents independent ambulance corps. An October 1999 survey by
AAA suggested that 86 percent to 90 percent of its members expect to
be Y2K-compliant by the end of the year.
"Whether the traffic control and telephone systems that ambulance
services rely on are running smoothly will be another story,"
Haracznak said.
Patient care is foremost, hospitals say
Most organizations have concentrated their efforts in the area of
patient care, said Maureen Mudron, Washington counsel for the
Chicago-based American Hospital Association (AHA). An AHA survey
indicates that eight out of 10 hospitals will have all their Y2K
solutions in place by the end of the year.
"We worked with manufacturers to upgrade [medical] devices and
even discarded some," said Dwight Angell, a spokesman for Henry Ford
Hospital in Detroit.
"In the last two weeks, New Jersey hospitals were among a number
across the country that did successful dry runs by simulating a Y2K
scenario, forcing the calendar," said Ron Czajkowski, spokesman for
the New Jersey Hospital Association, based in Princeton. "Everything
from fetal monitors and diagnostic systems to lights and air
conditioning and elevators has been checked."
Hospitals may still use some medical devices that are not Y2K
compliant, Mudron said. "An EKG, for example, will continue to give
a correct read, but it will show an incorrect date on which test was
being run, since the equipment operates independently of what day it
is," she said.
"Most hospitals have already tested systems that might affect
patient registration," Czajkowski said. However, a Y2K status report
from the President's Council anticipates annoying glitches, and
warns that some health-care providers and medical organizations
"exhibit troubling levels of readiness," which could cause headaches
with billing systems and patient records.
Keep documents handy
In the event of a computer failure or glitch, it's important to
keep your insurance card easily accessible. It contains crucial
information to help if there are admissions problems, or any
questions about your enrollment, suggested Fred Brown, chairman and
Y2K spokesman for the AHA. And to be on the safe side, he said, keep
records of insurance claims and lists of medications handy.
Most doctors still use paper medical records; even if yours has
switched to computerized records, paper copies are probably on file
as a backup.
But it's always a good idea to be able to provide emergency and
other medical personnel pertinent facts about your medical history
-- such as drug allergies, medical conditions, past treatments and
operations, medical devices you use, your doctor's phone number and
the number of an emergency contact -- so gather these now, Brown
stressed.
People are 'ultimate contingency plan'
"People are the ultimate contingency plan," Mudron said. "It's
people who have always been present to deliver the care, and we
encourage hospitals to have staff there and be prepared for whatever
might need to happen."
Medical personnel point out that they handle emergencies every
day. Doctors even operate right through hurricanes, using
battery-operated lights if they have to. They know how to treat
people without the help of computer-operated gadgets.
Henry Ford Hospital is a case in point. "We have two or three
emergency drills a year -- for example, our chemical contamination
drill. We're a large urban hospital and we have plans for
everything," Angell said.
NEWSCENTER
Transportation
and Travel 
