AURORA, Colo. (KOAA) — UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital, the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, and others have partnered on a multi-year research initiative that aims to find new, efficient ways to respond to national health emergencies.
The initiative examines existing medical infrastructure and determines how it can quickly be converted into hospital-level care.
The Department of Defense (DoD) provided a $12.5 million grant in 2023 for the research after they found a "critical challenge in national preparedness: the strain placed on the U.S. health care system during a prolonged mass casualty event."
National health emergencies, or large-scale overseas combat scenarios, can quickly overwhelm hospitals, according to the DoD, and could deplete hospital beds within 10 to 12 days.
The University of Colorado Department of Emergency Medicine has been using the grant money to develop an alternative care facility (ACF), focusing on building a "playbook" on how to turn a hotel into a temporary hospital space.
In their second year of research, the research team has completed a prototype at the Hyatt Regency Aurora-Denver Conference Center.
They've created two fully-functioning intensive care units. They converted rooms in the hotel into patient rooms, a nursing station, and lab services.
“From a disaster preparedness perspective, this is probably the most impactful project I'll ever work on."
“Because of this work, we now have a blueprint to turn a hotel into a hospital-level care site in just two to four weeks. This could save countless lives during a crisis.”
According to UCHealth, using the hotel model allows for improved infection control, private bathrooms, and the ability to isolate patients for safer care.
The research teams are transitioning into the final phase, beginning to test the model in other cities, refining their "playbook," and developing tools to help hospital decision-makers to apply solutions based on their needs and resources.
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