In August of 2007, the patients and staff at a hospital in Dyer, Indiana, experienced rising waters from excessive rainfall.

In August of 2007, the patients and staff at a hospital in Dyer, Indiana, experienced rising waters from excessive rainfall. As such, an evacuation took place to protect everyone inside St. Margaret Mercy Hospital. Evacuations sound easy enough; however, they can be a bit tricky if the plan does not account for all of the important factors. In this case, 70 patients of the hospital had psychological difficulties, which prevented them from being able to effectively care for themselves. For example, the patients’ charts indicated descriptors such as suicide risk, severe depression, high levels of anxiety, and lack of proper medication.
Using the foundations of this event as a learning platform, the challenge to address for this case study is how to effectively evacuate 70 dependent patients from a hospital by using ethical decision-making and a team-based approach to leadership.
Consider each of the following details as you describe how you would effectively manage such an emergency as a leader:
What types of things would lead you to decide that evacuating the patients is necessary? (You can address ethical decision-making.)
Where would you place the patients? In other words, what would serve as your evacuation shelter? Be sure to explain why this would be an effective evacuation shelter by describing the location and its surroundings.
How would you transport the patients and their medication to the evacuation shelter?
Who would monitor the patients at the evacuation shelter?
How would you apply team-based leadership in an emergency like this (e.g., interagency collaboration and cooperation)?