LA County EMS Purchases BLU-MED Advanced Portable Hospital System

• BLU-MED Response Systems
• 2007 Jun 14

KIRKLAND, Wash. - The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services recently awarded a $1.1M contract to BLU-MED Response Systems of Kirkland, Washington to provide state-of-the-art portable hospital units and support systems for the county's Emergency Medical Services Agency. The 100-bed Mobile Hospital system will provide primary surge capacity to support local hospitals and first responders in the event of an earthquake, pandemic influenza or bioterrorism event. The procurement was funded in part with grant funds from the federal Urban Area Security Initiative grant program. 

Based on the BLU-MED RapidSurge product offering, the modular hospital system is a fully equipped, freestanding, heated and cooled hospital complex that can be set up on pavement, grass or gravel to process and treat large numbers of incoming patients. The Mobile Hospital units, which are transported in customized cargo trailers, can be set up in a variety of configurations with ward beds, ICU beds and an array of specialized medical equipment needed for patient triage, general medical and surgical needs. The BLU-MED portable hospital complex can be adapted for use as multiple first aid stations, medical centers and even mass immunization or negative pressure isolation units for suspected infectious disease outbreaks. 

"Our agency is responsible for coordinating and supporting healthcare response during an emergency situation," stated Roel Amara, Hospital Preparedness Program Coordinator with the County's Emergency Medical Services Agency. "These mobile hospital units will help us provide additional resources to support area hospitals, our Disaster Medical Assistance Team, and allow us to be interoperable with our partners at the state level." There are approximately 100 public and private hospitals in the LA County medical community. 

BLU-MED Response Systems will provide deployment support, training and exercise consulting services, and technical support to the Emergency Medical Services Agency.