Flatpack field hospitals that can be airdropped to disaster zones
theguardian.com
theguardian.com
The Army Combat Support Hospital (think MASH tv-show...) guys could set something up like this really fast, but it was expensive hardware, required their own personnel, etc. This makes sense for the US military (massive logistics, budget, etc.), but not for others. Also worked (volunteer/charity) with some local clinics who didn't have these kind of resources, but did have great personnel, who could use more locally-acquired or bespoke solutions -- problem was it was slow, not uniform standard, etc.
A cost-reduced, standardized, easily transportable hybrid is great. Ideally you'd use existing standardized readily available stuff with minimal medical/flown in stuff on top.
The helping-out-with-medical happened 5-6 years later and was entirely due to the company I was contracting for having some connections at the founder level with Christian and medical charities who were also helping out there -- I can't really take any credit for "volunteering" for that, it was much closer to "voluntold", but I'm glad I did it.
"The hospital is a small contribution by India to humanitarian work around the world,” she said. “We are now ready to share it with any country that needs it.”
It reflects a new way of thinking and a fresh world view. A vastly different view from the one I grew up in (80s)... Which was huge headlines in NYT about how poor countries need aid and western aid organizations are helping them. When in reality it was "relief theater".
Good luck.
I later read that because of strict policies relating to a notion that only the "simple" cases, of which there were few, could be transferred, the temporary hospital facilities ended up underutilized. But the ability to surge capacity in a specific area is hardly constrained to parts of the world with fewer hospital beds. Public health crises and natural disasters in the USA are perfect candidates for this technology.
I hope we can test this quickly, and if it works, buy a bulk pack.
Lets take the 2010 Haiti earthquake as an example, which happened at about 4 PM. The US ambassador declared an emergency, the joint chiefs issued an order for support, SOUTHCOM initiated its crisis response operations center, and the newly formed Joint Task Force Haiti was setting up calls with local ministers before the Haitian president even formally requested assistance that evening.
At first daylight 3 surveillance aircraft were overhead surveying damage and identifying rescue targets, a US coast guard cutter that was in the area arrived in port to begin infrastructure damage assessments, and SJFHQ established a command post in country. By sunset US special operations has teams on the ground to assist with security, FEMA has an Urban Search and Rescue team rescuing trapped victims, and Air National Guard combat air controllers have taken control of the airport and turned it into the busiest single runway airport in the world for arriving aid workers and supplies.
By the second day hundreds of troops from the 82nd Airborne have arrived, the State Department diplomatic security service is in the process of evacuating thousands of American nationals, and multiple Global Hawk drones are providing real time video feeds to rescuers on the ground.
The third day the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier arrives where its deck is turned into a 50 bed hospital, and it would remain on station until the USNS Comfort hospital ship and USS Bataan causality receiving ship arrived the following week.
An IKEA hospital is an amazing thing, but it isn't worth shitting on the massive international aid operations most major countries conduct as "relief theater." India itself is among these, their light helicopters and skilled pilots were vital during the initial response to the Nepal earthquake.
And then (assuming the British government isn't feeling charitable, which is a good bet) you can export them at a profit or licence the design to other countries.
Instead, every single hospital seems to be a money-pit full-custom design and changing one after the fact is almost entirely impossible without huge effort, which is why my latest medical appointment was done in an old laboratory, complete with lab benches round the walls with a high-school-style desk and two chairs awkwardly plonked in the middle.
Obviously it's not a simple thing to design such a thing (not least the plumbing!), but the immense resources that go into full custom hospitals, the pain it causes when they become not what is needed, and the expense of modifying them really makes me think.
And, a lot like college dorms, hospitals have become luxury. Basic hospitals would be a hard sell.
Sounds very much like a them problem (assuming a government since 1948 could show such intestinal fortitude).
> hospitals have become luxury
Only if you allow the private sector to completely capture the entire industry from top to bottom including government and regulatory function (in the same way the US automotive industry made light trucks basically illegal where they could).
That process of top-to-bottom capture having not yet been fully completed in the UK, I don't think you'll find an NHS hospital, even a new one, especially luxurious. A BUPA one, probably yes (but they also don't have expensive money sinks like grubby un-insured and un-moneyed patients, A&E departments to run or junior staff to train).
And there's no reason you can't have luxury modules as an upsell, or even third party compatible models. It's how aircraft are configured. You get an empty fuselage and you choose the modules. But the difference is you could fit the same modules to the medical versions of Airbuses and Boeings.
Doing that on a larger scale would be the next step.
Elementary schools could also use a standard modular design, but every town would prefer to spend just a little extra for a custom design. The cost of a custom design isn't much more anyway, as all the parts are standard off the shelf. What a standard really gives is they don't make the gym too small for a.regulation basketball court and other details that are easy forget when specifying a custom building.
You can still put a custom fascia on it. Most recent large buildings fundamentally work that way anyway. Concrete inside, panels or bricks outside.
The real gain comes in 20 years when you need to change things (medical technology changes, demographics change, multi-hospital organisations-trusts in the UK, networks in the US-change), and you find that you need to gut the whole place to do anything at all. So you either do that at huge expense, or you make do and do your consultations in a disused lab area with a waiting room in a corridor (because labs don't have waiting rooms, but now the lab work is done elsewhere, so it's what you got).
Of course when it's all about "profit this quarter" (US) and "being tough on spending" (UK), having a major problem in 20 years is not your problem.
This recently came to a head, again, in the UK where it was discovered that some schools were on the verge of failing due to the limited lifespan of the concrete and building technique in use:
"Crumbling and potentially dangerous concrete has been found in 174 English schools, 27 more than previously known..."
They're re/building about 50 a year, and there are 32000 schools, so about 0.15% of the stock per year. So a school has to last over 600 years on average before it'll get rebuilt at this rate.
My home town did at least build all elementary schools to the same design.
I agree that you want standardized designs, but modular stuff gets tricky because it’s physical infrastructure not code (eg things can fairly physically in unintended ways if the supports aren’t designed for it and designing supports for arbitrary undefined loads to be added later is tricky).
At least that’s my uninformed take.
As for CT, the last one I had was actually on a floor C, but it was at the back I think, so now I think about it could have been the ground floor as the building was on a hill. But even then the module catalog can just say "you can only put Type H (heavy) modules at the bottom, and Type R (radiological) ones go at the bottom unless shielded".
Maybe it's just an insane and impractical idea, but I can't help thinking billions upon billions in one-off design and refitting work is being reinvented every new project (not that I hear architects and consultancies crying about it).
I think the nearest we got was the so-called Nightingale hospitals hastily erected for the first anticipated Covid-19 influx. They were put up very quickly but never saw much use.
This is incredibly smart! Guessing Ultra Wideband beacons in some of the equipment, so you know what cube it's in!
Unsaid--five trained people need more than an hour to assemble an Ikea bookcase.
It is true that the field hospital in TFA is a much comprehensive solution. I just wonder what an equivalent would be if designed with similar minimalistic principles to the cardboard bed.
0: https://www.fastcompany.com/90962654/this-simple-design-turn...
Also, an elevated position makes it easier for medical staff to check on patients.
- does actually look much more comfortable than the ground to me. The middle would give a bit into the cavity of the base, it's not just a sheet on the ground as I imagined reading your comment.
- being raised makes it easier for medical personnel to attend to any injuries etc.
- looks like a more clearly delimited arrangement, I imagine it would more easily become difficult to walk around people sleeping on the floor, as they'd sprawl out, lose the organised grid arrangement, etc.
But I don't have any relevant experience to comment on how important any of that is, or if it's the best way to spend whatever cardboard beds cost in such a scenario.
Not so much:
Cockroaches will seek out cardboard as a form of shelter.
https://www.cockroachzone.com/why-are-cockroaches-attracted-...
They're not very disposable.
Cardboard tents are more sustainable than single-use tents.
Med tents, sheets, and scrubs could be made of antimicrobial hemp fabric.
Pop-up Hub tents like ShiftPod, Gazelle, and the Coleman Instant are quick to set up and sturdier than replaceable and splintable tent poles.
- [ ] ENH: Tent pole splint and/or spares
Tunnel tents also have high ceilings.
Round structures like [geodesic] domes fare better in wind than sharp corners due to wind shearing force.
Geodesic dome hub kits work with local lumber or other.
Heaxayurt: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexayurt :
> A hexayurt is a simplified disaster relief shelter design.[2] It is based on a hexagonal geodesic geometry adapted to construction from standard 4x8 foot sheets of factory made construction material, built as a yurt. [3] It was invented by Vinay Gupta. [4] Hexayurts are common at Burning Man. [5]
Is there a passive thermal roofline container modification for latrines and dispensaries? TODO link
- [ ] Heat pumps for disaster relief shipping containers
In searching for the shipping container by the ResponsePod folks, I just found an awning specifically for the area between multiple shipping containers in a corral configuration; prefabricated container shelter.
I couldn't find the link. It's a standard sized shipping container emergency response disaster relief dispensary with HVAC but not yet heat pumps FWIU.
- [ ] An open set of plans and modular interface specs for disaster relief shipping containers
- [ ] ENH: sustainably disposable Molle straps
More choices for more contexts is more good!
[1]: https://telesan.de/?lang=en
disclaimer: i work at one of the companies that worked on this
https://www.dvidshub.net/image/6787138/348th-field-hospital-...
In a conventional conflict mobilizing entire divisions, as the US is now preparing for again, you will see far more capable field hospitals again, because the US won't have the necessary capacity (either in terms of airlift volume nor existing hospital beds) to afford this luxury.
Which is kinda weird, even in retail, u can get 3m x 8m tents (or so) that could be carried in a helicopter.
This isn’t to replace an inner city hospital, this is the make it fast and cheap to deploy the basic necessities of medical care.
Plus even if you did have all the fancy equipment, it takes forever to set up relief centers. After Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico or after fired in Maui, it took days to setup basic relief centers. Imagine if you have these cheap “tent” hospitals available at every small nearby town, you could setup relief in a matter of hours.
> Sharma says the hospital is the first of its kind in India, but is reluctant to make any grander claim as she is not certain of similar developments in other countries.
Oh.