Christus Jasper takes step forward with innovative Care Site tents
By JIMMY GALVAN Managing Editor

Newsboy photo/Jimmy Galvan COUNTY OFFICIALS TALK about Christus Jasper's Regional Alternate Care Site tents during a presentation Thursday, Jan. 17.

Christus Jasper Memorial Hospital took a big step forward in dealing with disaster-related events in Southeast Texas.

Christus Jasper showed off the Regional Alternate Care Site 1-2-3 tents at the Jasper Rodeo arena Thursday, Jan. 17. The care site can function as a 16-bed site in three locations or join together as a 48-bed facility.

The tent was purchased by a grant through the Regional Advisory Committee at a cost of $350,000-$400,000. Debra Harris, Christus Jasper's ER director, is the chairperson for the committee.

"Its purpose is really endless," Harris said.

The operation is being coordinated with Brazosport Regional Medical Center through the RAC program.

"The biggest benefit of this is that if for some reason we lose the hospital we could use this tent," said Jasper County Emergency Management Coordinator Billy Ted Smith. "This opens the door to have further interface with the medical community with more planning."

Newsboy photo/Jimmy Galvan CHRISTUS JASPER showed off its Alternate Site tent to county officials and emergency personnel Thursday, Jan. 17 at the Jasper Rodeo Arena.The tent can be used in cases of emergency and can be placed and ready for patients in less than two hours.

Mark Durand, marketing director for Christus Jasper, said the tent and the supplies for the tent are all packaged into a trailer and will be housed at the hospital.

Durand said the setup could be used as far away as Newton and Sabine counties.

"We should be able to travel in approximately a 45-mile radius," Durand said. "If we are needed, we can assist anywhere we need to go.

When Hurricane Rita hit Southeast Texas, Community Church was set up as a hospital triage center following the storm. Smith said the tent could be used in that capacity in the event of a storm hitting the area again.

"It would have been wonderful to have during Hurricane Rita," Harris said. "We have generators and air conditioning where we could have deployed this and worked out of this instead of working out of an area that might not have access to it."

Harris pointed out that during Hurricane Rita, minor care was set up away from the hospital and this would allow that to happen in the care site with more traumatic injuries being seen in the hospital.

The care site is so advanced that surgeries could be conducted in it as well.

Each 16-bed wing, with beds and supplies, is estimated to cost nearly $100,000 each.

"We still have things we want to add to this project," Harris said. "This is a project that is never going to end. It will be really great to have especially if we experience another storm."

Harris pointed out that during Hurricane Rita, Jasper Memorial was operating under backup generator power that failed to keep up the entire facility.

"With this care site, you could set up a wing for crew quarters where staff would have somewhere to go," Harris said.