Nurse assists development of disaster team
Wright State University Homeland Emergency Learning and Preparedness (HELP) Center

Profile: Peter Savard, Assistant Director for Dynamic Medical Services
By KEN MOSIER
For Health Care Today

After taking his bachelor's degree in nursing from Cedarville University, Peter Savard worked in emergency departments in Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia and Virginia.

His travels led to interesting experiences. "I was in one of the prime emergency departments on the East Coast," he said. "We lived through 9/11 — we were an hour outside of DC. We had anthrax. We had the DC sniper who made a phone call right around the corner from the ER and we had Hurricane Isabel and Tropical Storm Gaston."

Although he still takes shifts in the Emergency Department at Good Samaritan Hospital, Savard is now the assistant director for Dynamic Medical Systems of the Homeland Emergency Learning and Preparedness Center (H.E.L.P.).

"I came on board here at (Wright State University) a little over a year ago," Savard said adding that the state of Ohio had a request for a proposal for a Mobile Emergency Medical System model.

Hospitals and clinics are fixed assets in communities. "They can't really help with the surge of patients whether it is an industrial accident, pandemic flu, weapons of mass destruction or a hurricane or tornado. The community can't expand to absorb a large number of patients.

	Inside the training center, a model of the way the semis are packed is made with lego blocks - 23,000 of them were ordered.

"If all of a sudden, we had 1,000 patients in Dayton (such as after a disaster), there is no way the ERs can handle that," Savard said. "Most ERs struggle just to keep up with the normal volume."

As a contractor for the Ohio Department of Health, the Wright State team devised a mobile hospital of 250 beds that can be up and running anywhere in the state in a matter of hours. The MEMS is designed to triage and treat 1,000 patients in a 24-hour period.

Savard noted other groups have come up with MEMS models at a cost as high as $3.6 million each. The local models cost around $1 million and contain all items necessary to treat patients for 72 hours. "And we can provide more medical care. Everything is designed to work with (Disaster Medical Assistance Teams) and other federal agencies," Savard said.

Savard's fascination with EMS began in high school when a friend suggested that he take EMT courses. A college friend suggested he study nursing.