Photo By Petty Officer 3rd Class Caylen McCutcheon | NORTH CHICAGO, Ill. (Sept. 8, 2021) TJ Kirkman, an auto mechanic from the Mechanic...... read more read more
For years, the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center has deployed staff members through the Disaster Emergency Medical Personnel System to places all over the country to augment personnel during crises. But what happens when there is a shortage of hospital beds, as disaster strikes?
Over the summer of 2020, Lovell FHCC was tasked with the responsibility of housing the only Containerized Fold-Out Rigid Temporary Shelter in Veterans Integrated Services Network 12 by the Office of Emergency Management. Because of the facility’s centralized location in VISN 12, it is the ideal location to store the C-FORTS so it can be deployed quickly in an emergency.
The containerized structure can be transported by semi-truck or airlifted and expanded by a team of mechanics once it reaches the destination. Once set up, the shelter provides three exam rooms and a separate administrative workspace for a medical support assistant. The C-FORTS is deployed with exam tables, self-contained sinks, standing medical trays, storage carts, exam lights, adjustable stools, and folding chairs for each room. All this equipment is packaged and transported inside of the C-FORTS allowing for a more efficient deployment. Housing the C-FORTS means making a commitment to the OEM that Lovell FHCC will maintain, deploy, and provide trained employees to deploy with the unit when necessary.
Once the C-FORTS arrived at the facility, the process of training personnel on setting up the portable medical unit began. Jerry Montgomery, supervisor of the mechanic pipe shop at Lovell FHCC, has been training other mechanics on how to work with the C-FORTS and make the set-up as time efficient as possible.
“It’s a long process, but we’re getting quicker at it. It can be dangerous too, a lot of hydraulics involved and a lot of heavy equipment,” Montgomery explained.
The set-up process includes ensuring the unit is level, has working electricity and generators, safety checks, and moving medical equipment and furniture. When the facility first received the C-FORTS, it took a team of mechanics up to 8 hours to have it fully ready for use. Now, they have cut that time down to 3 hours on average.
“It hasn’t been utilized yet, but we want to be ready when it is, so we constantly have people coming through here for training and to maintain it,” Montgomery said about the medical unit.
Emergency Manager and Lovell DEMPS Coordinator Gil Diaz noted that a “C-FORTS checklist” is done quarterly to ensure the unit is maintained and ready for deployment when the time comes. And the possible scope of its deployments, which ensure continuity of care for patients, could extend beyond VISN-12 patients. While C-FORTS is a VA asset, it can potentially be used to support other federal or state level needs, per the VA Office of Emergency Management website.
| Date Taken: | 12.28.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 12.28.2021 14:14 |
| Story ID: | 412033 |
| Location: | NORTH CHICAGO, IL, US |
| Web Views: | 53 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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