INSTANTLY DEPLOYABLE MOBILE FIELD HOSPITALS

As the world responds to COVID-19 outbreaks, some countries are making use of medical resources originally donated by the U.S. for peacekeeping purposes. This includes the four rapidly deployable mobile field hospitals in Africa that ADS, Inc. delivered earlier this year.

Though the military field hospitals were developed to treat battlefield casualties on military bases, the comprehensive solutions have been moved to populous cities to support healthcare systems overwhelmed by the pandemic.

The following describes ADS’s journey to support readiness—regardless of the end mission—from requirement to solution, delivery and training.

When U.S. peacekeeping efforts in Africa and Asia required four instantly deployable United Nations (U.N.) level II field hospitals, ADS led the development, integration and delivery.

ADS employees traveled to Accra, Ghana in January and spent more than two weeks training members of the country’s armed forces to set up and operate the instantly deployable military field hospital. In collaboration with HDT Global, an industry-leading manufacturer of fully integrated deployable hospital solutions, ADS supplied these unique, deployable field hospital units that include more than 250 components from 25 different suppliers.

ADS team members strategically packaged all field hospital equipment into containers so it could be easily deployed and assembled, providing critical medical care almost anywhere in the world.

ADS staff, engineers, medical subject matter experts, structure specialists and 35 Ghanaian military personnel successfully unpacked 10 containers of equipment, inventoried all pieces and set up an entire field hospital. Training included radiant barrier installation, building trauma walls for hospital wings, and assembling each piece of equipment for the specialized shelters. Once complete shelter set up was finalized, the team completed a turnover ceremony, a mass casualty training and a complete breakdown the of trauma hospital and re-pack for mobilization.

“While the training process took 10 days, the hospital setup takes just two days,” explained Jen Subasavage, ADS Program Manager. Subasavage was instrumental in each step of the hospital development and integration. During the delivery in Ghana, she served in an equipment support and logistics admin role.

The military field hospitals—developed by ADS, HDT Global and the U.S. Department of State—are equipped to provide immediate, 24-hour support for general surgeons and specialists in orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, anesthesiology, emergency medicine, radiology, and critical care. Level II trauma centers allow on-the-ground caregivers to provide initial definitive trauma care in the field, regardless of the severity of injury.

During a speech at the turnover ceremony in Accra, the Minister for Defense Dominic Ntiwul said the medical component of the African Peacekeeping Rapid Response Program (APRRP) enables Ghana Armed Forces to rapidly deploy and operate the mobile field hospital should anything threaten the continent’s stability.

“It's been a long road seeing this project through to the end, but it’s been so incredibly rewarding,” said Subasavage. “It was an amazing experience for our team to work so hard and so closely together, then see the difference it will have on the lives of so many people. It was truly the actualization of Our Purpose. Your Mission.”

“Like previous deliveries we made recently in Mauritania, Senegal and Mongolia, our team’s visit to Ghana was the culmination of nearly two years of painstaking work to source, supply, create and deliver these innovative, critical life-saving trauma care units,” said ADS President and CEO Jason Wallace. “It is truly amazing to see the final result of our team’s perseverance and humbling to reflect on the purpose behind our work, as well as the massive impact it can have on the world.”