Lessons Learned

Public Health – Seattle & King County learned many valuable lessons while putting together an Alternative Care Facility. A few of our key lessons are summarized below for you.

3 Important Lessons Learned:

1. Involve hospital systems and the entire community to provide both medical and non medical logistical support. It is a community effort and needs to be all inclusive.
2. Know your potential patient population. For example, we found out that a larger population of pediatric patients was very possible in the southern part of the county.
3. Include EMS and the communication mechanisms so everyone knows which patients are able to be transported and to where.

3 Things Public Health - Seattle & King County Wish We Had Known Before:

1. What other jurisdictions were working on alternate care facility planning - their successes and limitations.
2. Capacity, involvement, and interest of neighboring counties to support alternate care facility work. A state strategy would have benefited the planning and capabilities development.
3. Medical protocols from other jurisdictions. Very few were out there and they would be valuable.

If Public Health - Seattle & King County could do it over again, we would have:

• Had a much larger team to facilitate the planning and development.
• Ensured the state had a larger strategy for funding and capability requirements.