Harris Methodist Hospitals and Texas Health Resources Unveil the First Portable Inflatable Surge Capacity Unit in the Nation
December 15 2006 - 11:54AM
PR Newswire (US)
FORT WORTH, Texas, Dec. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The Internet, Global
Positioning Systems (GPS) and Humvees are examples of military
tools and technology transitioned from the military world that now
benefit civilian life. The military's famous portable surge
hospitals, or MASH units, are making a similar debut. Harris
Methodist Fort Worth Hospital (HMFW) and Harris Methodist Northwest
Hospital (HMNW), part of the Texas Health Resources System (THR),
will be the first hospitals in the nation to privately own a non-
military inflatable, portable surge capacity unit. Designed to
supplement an existing hospital in the case of an emergency, this
civilian portable surge capacity unit will be used exclusively for
emergency needs such as: mass casualty events, quarantining
patients with an infectious agent or communicable disease,
bioterrorism or terrorist attack or a pandemic flu outbreak, an
issue recently gaining public and medical community attention. On
December 15 at 2 p.m., join Congresswoman Kay Granger, Harris
Methodist Fort Worth Hospital, Harris Methodist Northwest Hospital
and Texas Health Resources as we unveil this gift to the
community.(1) A Gift to Benefit the Community Harris Methodist Fort
Worth Hospital and Harris Methodist Northwest Hospital received a
federal grant that Congresswoman Kay Granger helped secure in the
amount of $441,929 to support hospital bioterrorism initiatives.
HMFW, HMNW and THR saw the benefit of investing this grant in a
portable surge capacity unit to supplement the hospital during a
crisis. Texas Health Resources' 13 hospitals contributed an
additional $235,580 of federal Health Resources and Services
Administration (HRSA) grant monies to support the project. Each
hospital in the system receives HRSA dollars annually for emergency
preparedness. "The opportunity to mobilize medical care and
increase isolation capacity is the most difficult of the many
critical benchmarks outlined by HRSA for hospitals participating in
the federal grant program," said Dinah Cannefax, director of
emergency preparedness and safety at Texas Health Resources. "We
are proud to have reached a major milestone in hospital
preparedness." A large step towards being prepared is having the
technology and resources that the new inflatable, portable surge
capacity unit provides. The 2,700 square-foot unit is equipped
with: * 26 medical/surgical beds * 10 triage beds * Four intensive
care unit beds * Negative pressure air-flow, providing isolation
wards for patients who have infectious or communicable diseases *
Insulated siding and climate controlled temperatures inside the
unit * Self-sustained generators for inflation and electrical
capacity for medical equipment The back-log of patients that health
care facilities in Louisiana and Texas experienced during Hurricane
Katrina and Rita further encouraged Harris Methodist Hospitals and
Texas Health Resources to invest in the ability to
'surge-in-place.' This provides extra capacity for the hospital to
triage and treat large numbers of patients near the hospital if a
mass casualty incident occurred. "Disasters such as Hurricane
Katrina and Rita taught us a tremendous amount about having
contingency plans to care for large numbers of patients from
neighboring states as well as how to treat those in our own back
yard," said Barclay E. Berdan, president of Harris Methodist Fort
Worth Hospital and executive vice president of Texas Health
Resources. "We hope we will never have to use the portable surge
capacity unit, but we can take comfort knowing it is here if it is
needed. In fact, the benefit of the surge capacity unit may extend
beyond our immediate area to provide a safety net to the numerous
North Texas communities that Texas Health Resources serves." A
Leader in Emergency Preparedness In 2003, a Homeland Security
Presidential Directive defined hospitals as first responders for
all community and national emergencies or mass casualty events.
Harris Methodist Hospitals and Texas Health Resources were already
responding to this directive. Specifically, Harris Methodist Fort
Worth Hospital, a Level II trauma center, and the City of Fort
Worth have a history of working together on emergency management
and crisis communication plans. The city's first responders have
partnered with HMFW to train in decontamination and share best
practices in emergency response. This close alliance will continue
through the training, deployment and operation of the new portable
surge capacity unit. "We will rely heavily on the relationships we
have with the city to assist in the planning, communication and
coordination of emergency resources as we train our teams how to
use the surge capacity unit in an actual crisis," said Lillie
Biggins, vice president of operations at Harris Methodist Fort
Worth Hospital. "I am proud to be part of a hospital and a
community that is stepping-out and leading emergency preparedness
efforts across North Texas, our state and our nation." About Harris
Methodist Fort Worth Hospital Opened in 1930, Harris Methodist Fort
Worth Hospital is a Magnet- designated hospital, and Tarrant
County's largest and busiest hospital and regional referral center.
A member of Texas Health Resources, HMFW is licensed for 710 beds
and provides the following services: cardiovascular; high risk and
routine obstetrics and gynecology; neurosciences; orthopedics and
sports medicine; rehabilitation; adult critical care and neonatal
intensive care; trauma and emergency medicine; cancer care;
medical/surgical; kidney transplants; occupational health; and
more. The campus is home to almost 1,000 members of the medical
staff, more than 4,000 employees, 200 volunteers and the new
state-of-the-art 100-bed Harris Methodist Heart Center. For more
information, please call 1-888-4-HARRIS, or visit
http://www.texashealth.org/hmfw . About Harris Methodist Northwest
Hospital Harris Methodist Northwest Hospital, a member of Texas
Health Resources, serves Azle, Springtown, Lake Worth and greater
northwest Tarrant County and Parker County. Founded in 1954, the
hospital has 100 physicians practicing on its medical staff and
offers a wide range of services including cardiology, orthopedics,
surgery, gastroenterology, imaging and outpatient and sports
rehabilitation. For more information, call 1-888-4-HARRIS. For more
information, visit http://www.texashealth.org/ About Texas Health
Resources Texas Health Resources is one of the largest faith-based,
nonprofit health care delivery systems in the United States and the
largest in North Texas in terms of patients served. THR controls 13
affiliated hospitals and a medical research organization, and is a
corporate member or partner in seven additional hospitals and
surgery centers. THR's family of hospitals includes Harris
Methodist Hospitals, Arlington Memorial Hospital and Presbyterian
Healthcare System. For more information about Texas Health
Resources, visit http://www.texashealth.org/ . (1) The unveiling
will occur on the campus of Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital on
S. Lake Street between W. Terrell Avenue and Rosedale Street. For
directions, please call (817) 250-2152. DATASOURCE: Harris
Methodist Fort Worth Hospital; Harris Methodist Northwest CONTACT:
Whitney Hoebeke Jodry of Texas Health Resources, +1-817-250-2152,
or pager, +1-817-930-2515, or Web site: http://www.texashealth.org/
http://www.texashealth.org/hmfw
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