International Medical Corps, an L.A.-based global First Responder, transformed a vacant lot at the foot of City Hall in downtown Los Angeles into the site of our Emergency Field Hospital simulation for a week-long crisis training.
In a collaboration years in the making, International Medical Corps worked with volunteer supply chain and logistics experts from FedEx to modularize a 12-unit mobile Emergency Field Hospital so it can be deployed in small, medium or large-scale disasters.
The Field Hospital, which FedEx stores near its World Hub in Memphis, Tennessee, arrived in the heart of downtown L.A. packed in containers on two flat-bed trucks.
During a disaster, speed saves lives. Leveraging its global fleet and logistics capability, FedEx can deliver these lifesaving resources to meet urgent need almost anywhere in the world within hours.
International Medical Corps’ Emergency Response team and volunteers from Rescue Global, partner organizations, FedEx and the City of Los Angeles immediately set about unpacking and setting up the hospital.
Once the hospital was deployed, medical and humanitarian professionals gathered for three days of simulations to test response mechanisms, enhance protocols, and train on responding to an array of potential international emergencies.
The goal of the exercise was to help prepare our First Responders for the next humanitarian crisis or natural disaster.
Dozens of doctors, nurses and medical professionals, including volunteers from Brown University, Kaiser Permanente, Massachusetts General Hospital, Stanford University, UCLA, the University of Connecticut and more ran drills with our Emergency Response and Technical Units.
The First Responders simulated a range of scenarios, from trauma and surgery in a conflict zone to a disease outbreak to a nutrition emergency.
Household hygiene kits and wound care kits were packed by FedEx volunteers. The kits will be pre-positioned with the Field Hospital in Memphis, ready to be transported by the FedEx fleet for a disaster response.
The mobile field hospital deploys with enough supplies and equipment to be self-contained, including: medicine, food, water purifiers, tents, generators, communication equipment and other basic necessities to provide emergency medical and health care.
Thanks to FedEx, our global response teams and volunteers who drop everything to respond to emergencies will have the tools and resources they need when they hit the ground – so they quickly provide urgently needed care.
To culminate the week, guests toured the site and learned about the workings of an Emergency Field Hospital.
International Medical Corps will continue to work with FedEx to enhance the capability and flexibility of the Field Hospital, creating individual medical response units to respond to an increasing range of needs.
This collaboration with FedEx will help ensure that International Medical Corps will be first there, no matter where, rapidly responding to save lives and relieve suffering.