Salem Health, Salem, Ore.'s, level 2 trauma center and hospital takes the earthquake threat seriously and is ready to be put on alert at any time for a possible influx of patients, according to an article on the Statesman Journal website.

One issue the facility focuses on is what might happen at the hospital if its surgeons, many of whom live in the Portland area, can’t report because roads are damaged, bridges are unpassable or if some of the doctors have been critically injured. 

This could be a likely scenario in the event of a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake of 9.0 or greater magnitude.

“We ask ourselves how we would prepare for the phone call that asks us how many patients we could reasonably take. We can answer that question because we drill for it.  We also practice setting up decontamination tents and we review our phone trees, among other things,” said Dr. Nicole Van Der Heyden, the hospital’s trauma medical director.

Read the article.