ST. CHARLES, Mo. — All seven SSM Health Care – St. Louis hospitals have been designated by the National Weather Service as StormReady Supporters.
The StormReady Supporters program is part of a voluntary initiative that provides weather preparedness advice to communities through a partnership with the National Weather Service. This education program is designed to aid schools and businesses in establishing severe weather safety plans and actively promoting weather awareness.
StormReady communities are better prepared to save lives and property during dangerous weather events through advanced planning and education. The U.S. now has more than 1,300 StormReady communities and more than 60 StormReady Supporters nationwide.
An organization must meet the following four qualifications to earn StormReady status:
- Have an emergency operations plan in place, including severe weather procedures.
- Have multiple capabilities of receiving severe weather forecasts and warnings and alerting the public.
- Have designated weather watchers.
- Have shelter areas designated and clearly marked.
“Becoming StormReady is an important step in making sure the proper procedures are in place for handling dangerous weather conditions,” said George Salsman, network director of emergency preparedness for SSM Health Care – St. Louis. “Because these safety measures are in place, our patients and visitors can be confident that they will be safe at our hospitals during a weather emergency.”
The list of hospitals that are newly designated as StormReady Supporters includes: SSM St. Joseph Health Center, SSM St. Joseph Health Center – Wentzville, SSM St. Joseph Hospital West, SSM DePaul Health Center, SSM St. Mary’s Health Center and SSM St. Clare Health Center. SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center earned its StormReady status in 2008.
“StormReady encourages communities and businesses to take a new, proactive approach to improving local hazardous weather operations and public awareness,” said Jim Kramper, warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “For SSM Health Care – St. Louis, having all their area hospitals become StormReady is quite an accomplishment.”
