The concept of the Collaborative Healthcare Urgency Group (CHUG) began in the late 1990’s, when Connie Polke, a licensed respiratory therapist, recognized the frailty of patients/residents within healthcare facilities, and became concerned about their well-being in cases of emergency. Several years earlier, Bill Pretzer, a Battalion Chief for the Park Ridge Illinois Fire Department, was called out to a flooding event at a local nursing facility, and experienced first hand, the dangers of inadequate preparation as well as the complications of moving these fragile individuals. Both Connie and Bill began working together to develop, not only evacuation strategies and planning, but also created an executable, collaborative program to safely transport patients/residents with functional needs, to facilities equipped to accommodate those individuals.
Shortly after the events of 9/11, Connie and Bill applied for, and received the designation of 501(c)3 Nonprofit Organization, and solidified their efforts to develop this collaborative program. Events like 9/11, or even Hurricane Katrina showed that emergency personnel can quickly become overextended, and cannot be expected to do much more than move these fragile patients/residents to a temporary place of safety, like a local gym or community center. Sometimes, they are unable to respond at all for up to 72 hours, leaving the facility on its own. In both events, we all witnessed the heartbreaking results. The CHUG program was designed to work in conjunction with, yet independently of emergency management teams, to safely transport patients/residents to other member facilities, and then return them when the stricken facility is ready to reopen. This is done through a mutual aid agreement.
Today, CHUG is a proven program that has close to 400 member facilities and 11 transportation providers in the States of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin. Each facility is trained and prepared to either shelter-in-place, or utilize the collaboration to help evacuate or receive patients during emergency situations. CHUG has also developed the capability of utilizing PPERS (transportation providers) to dispense medications to member facilities during times of pandemic outbreaks, and is constantly looking to improve the effectiveness and applications of the program.
Connie and Bill have become experts in the field of functional needs evacuations, and are active advisors to state and municipal governing bodies, members of emergency planning committees, and consultants to individual facilities that are looking to build or improve their emergency preparedness programs. CHUG continues to grow, creating an even more extensive collaboration, with the mission of ensuring the safe and efficient evacuation of those individuals who require temporary housing with specialized treatment, as well as dedicating themselves to disaster preparedness training for this vulnerable population.
