Houston Fire Department and Regional Hospital Preparedness Council Announce Establishment of Medical Surge Team
May 18, 2007
Today, the Houston Fire Department (HFD) and the Regional Hospital Preparedness Council (RHPC) announced the establishment of a regional Medical Surge Team. This specialized team of forty-eight members will transport and construct temporary shelters for the treatment of EMS patients at the scene of a multi-casualty incident and/or to alleviate the demand placed on local medical facilities during a disaster.
While the HFD has the responsibility for transporting to and maintaining these “field hospitals” at an incident scene, they are a regional resource that can be utilized within a nine county area. These counties include Austin, Colorado, Fort Bend, Harris, Matagorda, Montgomery, Walker, Waller, and Wharton.
This project will significantly benefit the medical surge capabilities of the City of Houston, Harris County, and our neighboring counties by:
• Deploying facilities following a terrorist attack using weapons of mass destruction.
• Establishing facilities in close proximity to the scene of a multi-casualty event.
• Deployment after a natural disaster such as a hurricane, tornado, or flood.
• Deployment when one or more of the local medical facilities within the city or region become untenable.
• Setting up an isolation area during a public health emergency (pandemic or quarantine).
• Assisting in the processing and treatment of victims arriving from other areas of the country following their evacuation.
• Establishing facilities and resources typically delivered by State and Federal agencies and doing so in a significantly condensed time frame.
The Medical Surge system consists of emergency response shelters that are transported on trailers, assembled by six to ten personnel, and powered either by available commercial power or a portable generator. They are stand-alone shelters that include lighting, heating and HVAC, and water and waste management. The configuration is comprised of three shelters that cover approximately 4500 square feet, and will adequately support 60 cots or beds. The shelters can be operational within approximately four hours after arrival on the scene.
As a partner with the HFD, the RHPC will assist in the coordination of medical staffing for these shelters. Through the efforts of the RHPC via the regional Catastrophic Medical Operations Center (CMOC), a cache of medical equipment and pharmaceuticals will be delivered to the shelter site upon activation of the Medical Surge team. The RHPC will also coordinate the distribution of supplies and pharmaceuticals needed by patients within these facilities. The supply cache is capable of treating 250 patients per day for a 3-day period without re-supply.
The trailers, tents, and associated equipment have been purchased by federal funds approved by the U. S. Department of Homeland Security through a grant application submitted under the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) program. The U. S. Department of Homeland Security's UASI grant program provides funding to large, high-threat urban areas to address their unique equipment, training, planning and exercise needs, assisting them to build an enhanced and sustainable capacity to prevent, respond to and recover from threats or acts of terrorism.
The medical equipment and pharmaceuticals were purchased through grant monies obtained by the RHPC through the National Bio-terrorism Hospital Preparedness Program (NBHPP). The National Bio-terrorism Hospital Preparedness Program enhances the ability of hospitals and health care systems to prepare for and respond to bio-terrorism and other public health emergencies. Program priority areas include improving bed and personnel surge capacity, decontamination capabilities, isolation capacity, pharmaceutical supplies, and supporting training, education, and drills and exercises.
