‘Only one like it.’ Mobile hospital deploys from Charlotte to storm-ravaged mountains

POLK COUNTY, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – Atrium Health is operating a multi-unit mobile hospital in Western North Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Helene.

Healthcare officials said it offers all services a traditional, permanent facility can provide such as x-rays, trauma care, pharmacy needs, and other emergent needs.

Atrium Nurse Manager Brian Sutton said they can alleviate the pressure area clinics and emergency rooms are under.

“It’s the only one like it in the country,” he said. “We bring our own power grid, water, fuel, the entire hospital out to communities.”

Medical professionals said much of the equipment in the tents and trailers are identical to what they work within hospitals, so they are used to working with the gear and patients can expect the same level of care.

The team left Charlotte on Tuesday and by Wednesday were coordinating with local facilities to accept patients.

Kassi Huffman is a registered nurse in Atrium’s emergency department and a member of the MED-1 team for the past year. She said they train to take on the unpredictable.

“With natural disasters, you never know what’s going to come through those doors. You’re prepared for anything and everything. We have capabilities of delivering babies if need be. We have a trauma surgeon in a CNA with us here as well,” Huffman said.

Local EMS teams can also use the site as a basecamp to launch from.

Another crucial member of the team is Calvin Harvel, a peer support specialist and patient advocate. He helps patients work through trauma and grief while doctors work on their physical well-being. He said sometimes his role is just to sit and listen.

“Hope is the most important thing,” Harvel said. “It’s so important to just wake up and say, ‘you know what? Maybe today, maybe today I’ll feel a little bit better.’”

The hospital group has used MED-1 for disasters, hospital renovations, and large-scale community events since 2005. It was first deployed to aid areas impacted by Hurricane Katrina.

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