Last Thursday, UM Shore Medical Center at Easton hosted a demonstration of a portable field hospital that is available to any hospital on the Eastern Shore. This 20-bed portable field hospital was purchased in 2012 by the Region IV Healthcare Coalition, Delmarva Regional Healthcare Mutual Aid Group (DRGHMAG). DRGHMAG consists of representatives from every hospital, health department and Emergency Management Agency on the Eastern Shore. The coalition decided to take it on the road to demonstrate some of its capabilities to the staff of UM Shore Regional Health.
In approximately 30 minutes, the tent portion of the hospital is ready for use. The configuration of the tents is very flexible, given that the partitions are all on Velcro. Each patient area provides 50 square feet, but if need be, one panel can be removed to provide the 100 square feet of space required for an ICU patient. The 17.5kw generator powers two large heat pumps that can cool the tents to 60 degrees or heat them as warm as desired. The unit also has the capability to provide a negative pressure room. Supplies for the hospital are stored in the trailer, which contains enough supplies to see 300 patients in 72 hours. The trailer also contains showers, toilets, an electric hot water heater, refrigerator and microwave that can all go into the tent.
“This portable field hospital is a great resource for Eastern Shore hospitals during emergency situations,” says Michael Boldosser, emergency preparedness manager for UM Shore Regional Health. “During to the demonstration here, we had 18 student nurses, members of senior leadership and many others tour the unit, and they were quite impressed with its capabilities.”
Skip to content