Ohio University Plans Rapid-Response Medical Team

Feb. 28--FAIRBORN -- Wright State University's medical school will use a $2.2 million state grant to help develop a rapid-response medical team and equipment that can set up near disaster sites and treat as many as 1,000 victims.

"This is an insurance policy for the area," said Dr. Mark Gebhart, WSU assistant professor of emergency medicine and the project's director. "We have to ensure that our citizens have a place to turn to for medical attention in times of disaster."

The "acute-care center" would be able to set up near the scenes of disasters -- natural or man-made -- in facilities not normally used for health care, such as a county fairgrounds or sports arena, said Dr. Glenn Hamilton, chairman of the Emergency Medicine Department at WSU's Boonshoft School of Medicine. The center would work in collaboration with the region's hospitals and emergency-response agencies, and it would be staffed through agreements with the region's hospitals and by faculty members, medical residents and students at WSU's medical school.

The grant from the Ohio Department of Health will pay for planning, training and equipment, which will include medical supplies, pharmaceuticals, decontamination units, generators, communications equipment, food and water. When not in use, the center's equipment and facilities will serve as a training site for medical providers and emergency response personnel.

Although it's "first and foremost for the eight-county area" surrounding Dayton and west-central Ohio, the acute-care center would assist in any disaster that struck Columbus, Cincinnati, or elsewhere, Gebhart said.

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