NACOGDOCHES, TX (KTRE) -
The Nacogdoches County Memorial
Hospital District showed off its new emergency response trailer. It's like an
emergency room on wheels.
"It's like triage," Scott Christopher said.
Christopher is the president of DETRAC and the director of the Nacogdoches
County Hospital District's trauma, stroke, and cardiac program
It's patterned after a similar
trailer recently put into action by the Deep East Texas Regional Advisory Council.
The trouble is that one will be parked in Livingston, the region's southern
area.
"The mission of (DETRAC) is to
make our region much more ready to respond in the event of day-to-day emergencies and also in the event
of a disaster even," Christopher said.
Christopher and paramedic Alan
Russell found a way to have a second trailer stay in Nacogdoches, the most
northern county in the region.
"The goal of this trailer
is not to necessarily have it parked waiting on the next hurricane to come through,
but to utilize it," Christopher said. "We take it out to the fairs. It's better
to have it there than not need, than need it and not have it."
The men didn't go to Pinterest,
but they did repurpose. Russell said they decided to put the truck in service.
"This was a truck and chassis
that used to be an ambulance, so we decided to put this truck in service, put a
bed on it," Russell said. "This trailer was technically a cargo-type trailer
that was sitting on the back lot."
Foretravel completed the
conversion. Hospital volunteers helped raise the money and now get credit for
their generosity.
"We appreciate you allowing our
name to be on this," a hospital volunteer said.
Sometimes it takes collaboration
and ingenuity to provide good health care.
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