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Avail™ Medical Sees Immediate Benefit of Emergency Response Program

Santa Barbara, CA (PRWEB) September 7, 2005 -- Avail™ Medical, a global provider of patented transportable field hospitals, today announced the first use of a mobile field hospital in an emergency or disaster capacity. “When we launched our Emergency Response Program just last week, we never dreamed that America would fall victim to one of the worst natural disasters in a century," said Jeffrey Merino, CEO of Avail Medical. “We are thrilled to see our technology provide a state-of-the-art workplace for the dedicated healthcare professionals assisting hurricane Katrina victims in Mississippi,” Merino said.

The Avail Emergency Response Center (ERC) incorporates all of the benefits of a high tech hospital with the added benefit of being transportable to an emergency or disaster site. The Avail Emergency Response Center is a 1,000 square foot state-of-the-art medical facility housed in an expandable 53-foot long tractor trailer. Because the compressed size and fully-loaded weight meet Federal Department of Transportation requirements, the ERC can be transported over U.S. roadways directly to the disaster site or closest medical facility without special permits or be airlifted via a C-17 or C-5 military aircraft. Inside the Emergency Response Center, trauma patients can be triaged, diagnosed, treated, and even receive surgery inside an operating room that would be the envy of many in major medical centers. In cases of extreme emergency, up to three surgeries can be performed simultaneously in the positively pressurized, 99% HEPA filtration environment. The Avail ERC meets the stringent equipment requirements of a designated Trauma Center as defined by the American College of Surgeons (ACS). These ACS definitions have been adopted by most states as their own requirements for the designation of trauma center capability.

“To date, the field hospital has been successfully utilized to provide healthcare and surgery services at hospitals, inside prisons, and in remote locations,” said Anita Chambers, Chief Strategic Officer of Avail Medical. “Because we felt that our product would offer significant benefits to emergency service providers, we felt compelled to launch a cost-effective program to help meet Homeland Security trauma surge requirements. Hurricane Katrina has confirmed the need for such a program,” Chambers said.

“In the case of a disaster of the proportion of hurricane Katrina, many local healthcare facilities are either damaged or overwhelmed by the volume of services required by the victims of the disaster,” said Malinda Mitchell, consultant and recently retired CEO of Stanford University Medical Center in Palo Alto, CA. “While staff and physicians are readily responding from other areas, they need an adequate facility in which to perform their much needed trauma and surgical services. The Avail Emergency Response Center provides the mobile facility for those services to be delivered,” Mitchell said.

About Avail™ Medical
Avail Medical is a California corporation formed in 2004 and holds the only issued U.S. patents for a mobile field hospital with an operating room. The company specializes in the design, development, manufacture, and distribution of rapid deployment field hospitals that include state-of-the-art operating room facilities. The product can be utilized by hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers experiencing over capacity (census) issues or undergoing operating room retrofits; humanitarian and military organizations providing medical care in remote areas of the world; and emergency medical and disaster preparedness organizations. To date, virtually every type of surgery with the exception of open heart and complex neurosurgery has been performed in the patented Field Hospital. It meets DOT requirements for standard transportation over US roads; it can also be transported via military aircraft such as the C-5A or C-17. Existing Field Hospitals built under this design have successfully been used at hospitals, correctional institutions, governmental facilities, ambulatory surgery centers, and in field situations.

Additional information is available at www.availOR.com

Media Contact:
Anita Chambers
Chief Strategic Officer
Avail Medical, Inc.
1525 State Street
Suite 105
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
650-823-3014 (direct)

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Source :  http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/9/prweb281893.htm