Narrated by actor Jack Webb, this 1971 color film presents “a model for multi-hospital disaster preparedness,” dramatising communications developments at 4 Los Angeles Hospitals: Cedars of Lebanon Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital, and Kaiser Foundation Hospital. Administrative issues are discussed and elaborate practice drills with makeup injuries are documented and analyzed (TRT: 30:40). The film was made in the immediate wake of the magnitude 6.5 Sylmar earthquake, also known as the San Fernando earthquake of February 9, 1971.
The seal of the President’s Office of Emergency Preparedness (0:08). Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital, Cedars of Lebanon Hospital, Kaiser Foundation Hospital in montage. Crash zooms on damaged structures and precariously leaning architecture following the 1971 San Fernando earthquake. A wheelchair atop the wreckage (0:30). News headlines and images from natural disasters. Opening titles: “Date With Disaster” (1:05). “Narrated by Jack Webb” over a young man on a stretcher. Los Angeles City Hall. Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. A white male doctor uses a stethoscope to check on a black baby. Hospital corridors (1:33). “Outpatient Services.” The doctor in his office (2:28). A hospital administration meeting (2:46). A list of major problems: “Communications, control center, inventory, traffic control” (3:41). File folders: “Disaster” for a disaster preparedness committee and a discussion of interdependence and shared resources (4:00). A radio tower. Two women demonstrate and test the use of an emergency radio line. Switchboard operators relay a request. A red emergency phonebook (5:54). Telephone operators and hospital receptionists dial rotary phones (7:20). An illustrated map shows links between several hospitals, with arrows connecting segments (7:52). Los Angeles freeway driving. An in-car radio (8:29). A sign for Harbor General Hospital. A Los Angeles Fire Department helicopter. A multi-hospital preparedness plan is drawn in marker on a legal pad as men look on nodding approvingly (9:00). Artists and graphic designers work at drafting tables. Maps outlined in red ink. A plan for rapidly taking inventory of supplies is mentioned (10:34). Designing PR literature and maps (11:46). Coordinating emergency services with ambulance drivers in white uniforms (12:02). Preparing for a mass casualty event with fencing and stretchers. A green bus unloads volunteers for a training program (12:33). Moulage: The art of applying false injury makeup for emergency response training purposes. Mock injuries are applied to live volunteers with red “blood” and burned clothing (13:20). A meeting with local law enforcement and medical community representatives contemplate a hypothetical plane crash. A brief of the presentation (13:55). A nurse on a telephone receiver hears of a plane crash at a school. She passes on the test message (17:09). A man with a false spike through his chest is tagged “dead” among an array of “casualties” (18:09). A man in sunglasses on a car radio. First responders arrive at the “mass casualty event” and firemen attend to the bloodied actors, transporting them to stretchers (18:26). The man in sunglasses speaks with a fireman about the hospital mobile unit and the 300 victims, requesting a capacity inventory and medical sorting teams from local hospitals. Blood types are tallied on a chalkboard (19:32). A red LAFD emergency van pulls into a parking lot. A helicopter arrives from Harvard General Hospital. Teams of medics leap into waiting police cars. An impartial observer watches, taking notes (21:10). A triage officer handles medical sorting priorities. A walking casualty is guided to transportation (22:00). Kaiser reports a capacity limit for burn victims (22:37). Emergency vehicles arrive at the other hospitals. Patient intake (23:04). A post-exercise evaluation calls for better triage (24:18). “Killer Quake” headlines and earthquake destruction. Dramatization: Organizing an airlift. Warnings of a chlorine gas leak. A damaged hospital. (26:05). Discussing the earthquake and trouble with helicopters (27:46). An LAFD Jet Ranger helicopter lands, a Goodhew ambulance speeds away. A firetruck in LA. Phone operators. A tagged “casualty” (29:30). End titles (30:11).
The 1971 San Fernando earthquake occurred on February 9th, heavily damaging the Olive View Medical Center and the Los Angeles Veterans Hospital, causing the majority of the 58-65 deaths that occured.
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
