Local emergency teams may soon have a 20-bed hospital to deploy in the event of a terrorist attack, deadly pandemic, natural disaster or other catastrophe.
Purchase of the hospital-on-wheels — essentially a 28-foot trailer equipped for calamity — will be made possible by a $210,339 grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Local hospitals, the Red Cross and county health officials came together to fill out the grant application as part of an ongoing process to find collaborative solutions to current and potential problems.
The Summit County Emergency Management Agency (EMA), under the direction of county government, will have the authority to spend the federal money, which passes through the state each year to be dispersed among its 88 counties.
In applying for the funding, EMA Director Valerie DeRose hypothetically assessed the threat of disasters of a “chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, explosive, terrorist event or pandemic” nature.
The County Council is expected to shop around for a mobile hospital after full council approval on Monday. The exact cost will be determined two weeks later when bids are in. Officials expect to make the purchase next year, well ahead of the 2018 deadline to spend the grant.
“Hopefully we’ll never need it,” DeRose said. “I’d rather see it gather dust, in all honesty. But at least we know it’s there for our hospitals and responders.”
The trailer will have two tents for triage and treatments, and another to process patient information. On board will be 20 retractable beds and all the saline solution, antibiotics, first aid supplies, wheelchairs, linens and gowns needed to treat dozens of victims.
“The hospital will be able to triage and treat minor injuries in case of a major terrorist attack or chemical or god-awful thing,” said Summit County Executive Ilene Shapiro. “It’s a deployable asset that will be stored probably at one of our hospitals.”
The mobile unit will be immediately available to emergency teams in the surrounding Northeast Central Ohio Regional Healthcare Coalition, and then to any affected area in the state or nation.
“To my knowledge,” Shapiro said, “the only other county that has one of these outside of our coalition, which is a 13-county area, is Hamilton.”
Doug Livingston can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @ABJDoug .