NYC bioterror center a model in public health planning

Bright lights, big city…bioterror? New York City’s Downtown Hospital will be the place to be in the aftermath of any WMD attack in the area after a massive $25 million remodeling project that vastly expanded the facility’s ability to handle victims exposed to chemical, nuclear, and biological weapons. Previous to the recent construction, the hospital’s decontamination unit could handle about 20 patients an hour. Now it can handle between 500 and 1,000 patients an hour — a major relief for local planners who had worried about how to transport large numbers of victims to facilities outside the immediate metropolitan area.

The new “decon unit” was built as part of the $25 million Lehman Brothers Emergency Room that opened last September. (Of the $1 million needed for the decontamination unit, Citigroup provided $400,000.) The design was inspired by a task force trip to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, where they learned that the key to a functional “decon unit” is simplicity. “You have to attend to large numbers of patients quickly,” said one involved physician. “You don’t want a lot of bells and whistles.”

New York planners adopted an open air design — choices were limited by New York’s space constraints — which meant that in the aftermath of a disaster, contaminated patients could be penned outside the sterile hospital but still receive comprehensive treatment. Twenty-five high-power showerheads were installed on the roof of the semi-outdoor enclosure (water is the most effective method of decontamination) and the 1,000-gallon tank that supports them is piped seperate from the hospital’s water supply to ensure a constant supply of warm water. Gas-powered heaters — a must in a cold New York winter — are also scattered along the roof of the facility. No doubt, patients will still be a bit chilly, but at least they will be alive. Hopefully they will be thankful to Citigroup as well.

-read more in Christopher Faherty’s New York Sun report