UNOS DonateLife

October 7, 2003

Isabel and the Organ Center: The Business of Preparedness

The Organ Center at UNOS stayed open and fully operational, even when the federal government declared Virginia an "emergency disaster area."

Isabel, the powerful hurricane that ripped through the East Coast on September 18, hit Virginia the hardest -- 1.8 million Virginians without power, 15,000 seeking refuge in shelters due to massive flooding and more than a thousand roads blocked statewide. Thousands more were without phone service.

In light of those challenges, how did the UNOS Organ Center manage? In a word: Preparedness.

UNOS maintains an offsite backup office (the "hot site"), which stands ready 24-7-365 to assume operations if the Organ Center is in significant danger or sustains severe damage. UNOS'  IT staff moved up its weekly "hot site" readiness check and confirmed early in the week that the site was ready.

UNOS also maintains a generator so that the Organ Center can continue its vital operations in the event of a power outage. "We had the generator's fuel tank topped off on Tuesday and had made preparations with our supplier to deliver diesel fuel daily," said Joe Wysowski, UNOS director of facilities and security. He and his staff also made arrangements with two alternative suppliers in case the regular supplier was unable to meet the commitment.

The predicted virulence of Isabel, though, necessitated even greater preparedness.

Preparations Continue

Two days before Isabel, IT set up a "mini organ center" in the UNOS Data Center, which sits in a windowless part of the UNOS building. The "mini" organ center would be able to accommodate workstations for nine people.

UNOS facility staff made sure that the National Donor Memorial construction site was secured and arrangements made for policing. UNOS also contacted the city of Richmond and the Virginia Department of Transportation about their loose construction debris in the vicinity of the UNOS building. With hurricane-force winds, loose debris could become flying debris, possibly striking the UNOS building and compromising Organ Center operations.

Arrangements also were made with university security and Richmond police to escort Organ Center staff to the remote UNOS "hot site" if relocation was necessary during the hurricane. In addition, a core of IT staff made preparations to stay overnight at the Organ Center when Isabel was predicted to hit Virginia.

The Storm Hits

Meteorologists were on target, and by 6 p.m. and into the night, Richmond was pounded with torrential rain and winds gusting up to 80 miles an hour. Before dawn on Friday morning, more than 10,000 utility poles were down, and 80 percent of customers served by Virginia's Dominion Power were without electricity. Hundreds of structures across the state sustained severe damage.

The UNOS building, though, was intact, and although UNOS was one of the nearly 2 million customers who lost power across the state, the Organ Center maintained uninterrupted services.

"UNOS was without regular power for 85.5 hours, which if you think about it is the equivalent of more than two full work weeks," Wysowki added.

During that time, the Organ Center actually was somewhat busier than usual. During an average seven-day work week, Organ Center staff handles about 115 organ requests. From Thursday to Monday, staff handled 88 organ placement requests, ran 66 matches at the request of OPOs and assisted in transporting 53 organs.

All went smoothly, even with the 90 degree heat in the Organ Center because air conditioning isn't supplied by the generator. And when staff finally left the building, they had trouble getting home because of downed trees and power lines. Those challenges, though, were inconsequential in the big picture.

"Everything," said Blaine Hess, assistant director of systems technology in IT operations, "worked exactly like it was supposed to."