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Albany Med Installs New Devices to Ease Patient Evacuation

Albany, N.Y., April 9, 2008 - Albany Medical Center has installed the same lifesaving equipment that allowed smooth and quick evacuation of many immobile hospital patients in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. "Evacusleds" are now available on those units at Albany Med where patients tend to be less mobile, including post-cardiac surgery/heart transplant care and orthopedics.

The bright yellow Evacusleds fit under the mattresses of patient beds. In an emergency, the head and foot ends of the device are pulled out and over the mattress and patient—cocooning the patient and turning the mattress into an evacuation vehicle. The patient and mattress (along with any IVs, oxygen, etc.) are slid off the bed and numerous small wheels on the Evacusled allow rescuers to pull patients to safety.

“Instead of having to be carried or lifted onto a gurney or into a wheelchair, patients are able to stay on the mattress,” said Scott Heller, director of the Regional Resource Center (RRC), which is based at Albany Med.

For rescuers, use of the Evacusled involves no lifting, only pulling (the pull force is 30 pounds for 195-pound patient). “That means that a single health care worker can pull even a 200-pound patient to safety regardless of that health care worker’s physical stature or strength,” said Heller. Due to the placement of the wheels, the device is maneuverable around corners and through doorways (even if it must be moved vertically, the patient remains fastened inside the cocoon) and can be rolled down stairways.

The technology was introduced in Canada 10 years ago and patented in the United States in 2001. Heller says, for him, the issue came to the forefront in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita when several hospitals and nursing homes needed to be evacuated in affected areas. “Following the hurricanes, we (Albany Med and the Regional Resource Center) conducted disaster drills to test evacuation readiness and realized that devices were needed to assist health care facilities in evacuation. After evaluating different devices, we chose the Evacusleds,” said Heller.

In all, 18 hospitals in the region will be equipped with Evacusled Emergency Evacuation devices. The Evacusleds were purchased under a Regional Resource Center grant from the state Department of Health. Albany Med plans to install Evacusleds in more beds in the coming months. Training will continue as more devices are installed.

“It is our hope that we never need to use these devices for an actual evacuation, however if the unthinkable were to occur, we are confident that we will be able to conduct an evacuation safely and efficiently,” said Heller.

Albany Medical Center is northeastern New York’s only academic health sciences center. It consists of Albany Medical College, Albany Medical Center Hospital and the Albany Medical Center Foundation, Inc. Additional information about Albany Medical Center can be found at www.amc.edu.

Albany Med received the designation as a Regional Resource Center by the New York State Department of Health in 2003. The RRC works with hospitals and other health care organizations in the 13 counties around Albany to coordinate emergency and disaster preparedness activities in the region.