New Rush Hospital To Host Bioterrorism Response Center
CHICAGO (CBS) -- It's the number one tool of a terrorist: Fear. And in an age of potential chemical and biological attacks, you might be wondering how prepared Chicago is for such a threat.
CBS 2's Roseanne Tellez got a sneak peak of a state-of-the-art bioterrorism response center that will be like no other in the country.
If Chicago were to come under attack, Rush University Medical Center – located in the Medical District just off the Eisenhower Expressway on the Near West Side – would play a key role.
"After 9/11 we realized that the battles – the front lines of any type of terrorist attack – are really brought to our back door," said Dr. Dino Rumoro, chairman of emergency medicine at Rush. "We need to be prepared for that."
Rush's new 14-story hospital – five years in planning and construction – is expected to bring preparedness to a whole new level in Chicago.
The ambulance bay, which is entirely enclosed, sits above a 10,000-gallon storage tank of water that could be used in the event of contamination. Patients could be scrubbed before ever entering the hospital.
"So, if there was a disaster patient – a patient who came from a disaster – we would flag them as a disaster patient … knowing that they have … a different condition, rather than a walk-in patient," Rumoro said.
The 60 critical care beds at the new hospital would accommodate twice as many people as the old emergency room, but the new facility also has a key feature called surge capacity.
"It's not just a square footage thing, it's the fact that we designed in redundant electrical outlets, redundant gas and oxygen and suction," Rumoro said. "Most departments don't have that redundancy built into their rooms."
In a disaster, emergency rooms can convert to handle double the number of patients. And the entire lobby also converts into a treatment area if needed, with access to additional electricity, oxygen and medical gases available throughout.
"It allows us to use the emergency department for the sickest patients and the less sick patients could be treated out here," Rumoro said.
In the event of an infectious disease contamination, a single room or an entire wing can be closed off. If needed, Rumoro said that negative airflow can be put in place, "meaning the contaminated air gets vented out of this building before it contaminates any other pod."
The emergency room now has its own radiology department, which would be critical since chest X-rays can determine anthrax contamination.
The new tower at Rush is set to open Jan. 6, 2012, but it's expected to take a few more months for the staff to fully come up to speed with its new features.
Rush consulted heavily with the military for the disaster features and officials really feel they've created a model for the modern urban hospital.
