Ottawa Hospital built new links to police, fire, ambulance, city services and the Red Cross while putting in place a new emergency management system, according to an article on the Ottawa Citizen website.
The system was tested during the recent Ottawa Race Weekend when 48,000 runners pounded across 60 kilometres of city streets. The race offered emergency planners what they hope is a controlled experiment.
Race weekend medical director Dr. Jon Hooper said the marathon has the potential to send a flood of people to hospital, which made it an ideal exercise to answer questions about the emergency system: Are the right communications links in place? Are the key players receiving the same information at the same time? Can the system respond appropriately to a surge in demand?