Unique in Europe, the mobile hospital of the Toulouse Disaster Response Center has recently been put into service. As many emergency departments begin to overwhelm the influx of covid-19 positive patients, there could be a quick and effective solution to unclog them.

His first mission, to quickly sort the victims. The Advanced Medical Post (PMA) is a structure for evacuating and stabilizing victims before their transfer to hospital. That of SAMU 31 is unique in the world. This mobile hospital, which can be unfolded in twenty minutes, is fully modular.

An emergency arsenal

Thomas Pardon, senior nurse in disaster medicine, SAMU 31 CHU de Toulouse explains how this fold-out hospital works:
“We can make small alcoves, large trays, it is the choice of the PMA chief doctor (advanced medical post) who decides how he will organize the interior of his PMA according to UA, absolute emergencies, and UR , relative emergencies “.

This structure measures nearly 70m², space is cramped, but no space is wasted. At the back of the hospital, in trunks, there are medicines, ventilators, infusions… A whole emergency arsenal!

Keep alive

Myriam Mayre, SAMU 31 nurse, describes how this structure works: “We have the circulatory, respiratory and neurological … We can take care of up to 90 victims initially with a batch. We have a second batch at SAMU 31 which can take care of 500 victims. So we have a considerable number of trunks. While awaiting evacuation, we set up everything as if we were in a classic emergency service … “

The aim is to keep the victims alive, 18 can be accommodated at the same time. Patients who must be quickly evacuated to the appropriate hospital services to avoid saturation.

Dr Clémence Castell Saun, emergency doctor at Carcassonne CH (11) confides: “This kind of fold-out hospital as an emergency responder brings stability to the pre-hospital. That is to say, you don’t do that in a tent on the corner of a stadium on the corner of a road, we still have four walls, a roof … They managed to bring to Toulouse, the hospital closest to health disasters “.

Screening, post-emergency, vaccination center …

This hospital is the result of three years of research and of a partnership between the SAMU and an industrialist. Delivered in September, the mobile hospital has not yet been deployed on a disaster scene.

It has already served as a covid screening center, a post-emergency hospital for the Bayonne hospital and a mobile vaccination center. It will now serve as a vaccination center in Haute-Garonne.

This structure could also be a solution to compensate for the saturation of hospital services. The cost of the device is around 800,000 euros.