Hospitals receiving trailers with decontamination showers

Jace Radke

Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2004 | 8:53 a.m.

The first of 10 shower-trailers that can be used to decontaminate patients infected by a chemical or biological terror attack was received by Sunrise Hospital Monday.

Purchased by the Nevada Hospital Association through federal grant allocations, seven of the 15-feet-long by 8-feet-wide trailers will be stationed at Southern Nevada hospitals by March.

"They are basically big self-contained shower units designed to be used in responding to terrorist attacks," said Dr. Christopher Lake, hospital association director for hospital preparedness.

The white trailer has three doors down each side that can be opened to form three seperate shower areas. The trailer is designed so that contaminated patients can line up on one side and then emerge decontaminated and ready for medical care on the other side.

The mobile units, known as MEDecon trailers, are used by the military and at Veterans' Administration hospitals for mass decontamination, but Sunrise is the first civilian hospital to have one, officials said.

The trailers are designed to be especially helpful in decontaminating young children or the elderly with two lanes that include a system of rollers to push non-ambulatory patients through the trailer.

The trailers cost about $40,000 apiece and are being paid for through federal grant money awarded to the Nevada Hospital Association through the Health Resource Services Administration. The $2.8 million grant allocation has also been used to buy two 4,000-square-foot disaster medical facilities. These mobile hospitals have space for 50 beds and include defibrillators ventilators and other medical equipment.

The hospital association has also allocated funds for personal protective equipment for hospital staffers and pharmaceutical supplies from the federal grant monies.

The trailers have their own water bladders to contain any contaminated water from the showers, and nozzles that can spray out soap or other subtances to counteract the infectious material.

The trailers can be towed to other locations for use and can also be used as shower facilities at the mobile hospitals, Lake said.