BLU-MED Supports California`s Rough & Ready Exercise

KIRKLAND, Wash., Sept. 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- BLU-MED Response Systems announced the successful deployment and set up of a 30,000 square foot Mobile Field Hospital (MFH) and Staff Housing complex for California Emergency Medical Services Authority's (CAL EMSA) 2007 Rough & Ready training exercise held August 20-25. Set-up of the complex was completed 12 hours ahead of schedule, under-scoring its flexibility to provide rapid advanced trauma care to seriously injured victims of catastrophic disasters.

The 23,000 square foot, 200-bed Mobile Field Hospital, one of three BLU-MED hospital packages recently purchased by the EMSA, included an operating suite, intensive care units, mobile lab and radiology units, patient ward space and staff housing, and state-of-the-art mobile medical equipment. Together, the three fully-equipped mobile hospitals constitute the largest civilian medical response facilities of their kind. The 7,000 square foot Staff Housing facility ensures that medical professionals can be housed on-site in disaster environments.

"When disaster strikes, being prepared is key to saving lives. The State's new mobile field hospitals and our trained volunteer emergency responders are going to help prepare California to quickly and effectively provide emergency services during a major medical disaster," stated Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

BLU-MED supported CAL EMSA in showcasing the flexibility and medical triage and treatment capabilities of the mobile hospitals during a week of intensive training involving multiple state agencies and more than 400 emergency responders at the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos, California. The exercise, one of the largest in California history, tapped agencies and emergency responders from across the state, and tested the vendor-managed support contract with BLU-MED Response Systems.

The concept of operations for the Mobile Field Hospital program calls for three 200 bed vendor managed, turn-key hospitals stored in three strategic locations throughout the state, allowing a rapid initial response to the affected area and a calculated secondary response where it is needed most. The mobile facilities can be on-site and ready to begin receiving patients within 72 hours of an event. They can be configured as 200, 400 or 600 bed hospitals based on the need created by the disaster. The mobile facilities will be especially useful when regular hospitals are incapacitated or overwhelmed because of the scope of a disaster.

"We are pleased to assist the state of California in their strategy to build, store, maintain, and strategically deploy a flexible system of mobile medical response facilities," stated Gerrit Boyle, president of BLU-MED Response Systems. "The success of this exercise demonstrates our commitment to providing turn-key solutions to enhance disaster medical preparedness and community health services."

In addition to CAL EMSA, primary participants included the California Medical Assistance Teams, Disaster Medical Assistance Teams, the California Department of Public Health, California Highway Patrol, California's National Guard, the National Disaster Medical System, the Office of Homeland Security, the Office of Emergency Services and more than 400 volunteer emergency responders.

File Photo Attached Below: CA EMSA MFH

About BLU-MED Response Systems

BLU-MED Response Systems provides turn-key, portable shelter-based solutions for disaster medical surge facilities, alternate command centers, temporary housing and base camp requirements. The company offers a full range of medical equipment packages and configuration options. BLU-MED support services include vendor managed inventory options, field deployment, and training & exercise services.

BLU-MED facilities can be sized and customized to meet a variety of state and local public safety and public health response requirements. Modular options include medical surge wards, patient treatment, decontamination, immunization/drug distribution, negative pressure isolation, and field laboratory units. BLU-MED Response Systems is a division of Alaska Structures, Inc. For more information see https://www.blu-med.com.

Photo: https://www.ereleases.com/pr/2007-blu-med.jpg (CA EMSA MFH);

Caption: Aerial view of 200-bed Mobile Field Hospital and 150-person Staff Housing Complex during the 2007 Rough & Ready Exercise in Los Alamitos, California.

This release was issued through eReleases(TM). For more information, visit https://www.ereleases.com.

SOURCE BLU-MED Response Systems