Amateur Radio Group Sets Up Emergency Hospital Communication Network
Page Dowdy/Chesterfield Observer [August 2005]
By the end of this summer 16 hospitals in central Virginia will have ham radios set up for use during emergencies to be manned by Virginia RACES (Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services), a volunteer group. (l-r) Tony Amato, state emergency radio officer, and Jim Clark, District Emergency Radio Officer, recently tested the systems at six local hospitals.
Volunteers of Virginia RACES (Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service) have been installing ham radios in 16 hospitals from VCU to South Hill for use during emergencies.
Six hospitals are now on line and were recently tested. The remaining hospitals should be on line by the end of the month, said Tony Amato, the State Emergency Radio Officer for Virginia RACES. The new St. Francis Medical Center opening next month will be number 17.
Local governments support this effort, and federal funding has come from Homeland Security. The hospitals selected are those prepared to accept trauma patients in the event of a major disaster. They would accept delivery of vaccines if bioterrorism threatened the area.
The hospitals are not connected to the county emergency communications system which has 48-hour battery backup as well as a generator.
It is the first time the hospitals will have radio equipment on site. Each hospital will have two radios - one for voice transmission and one capable of sending packets – volumes of information - securely. Volunteers will not only operate the equipment during emergencies but also maintain it. “We have around 35 active emergency communication hams in the county,” Amato said.
The Virginia Department of Health has set up six districts in Virginia and a planning committee for each. The Central Virginia Hospital Disaster Planning Committee has worked with Virginia RACES and local governments to provide those hospitals with emergency communication equipment and staffing.
Linda Price, Chesterfield County’s emergency management coordinator, admits that while terrorism has definitely affected the county’s planning for emergencies, “Hurricane Isabel was an eye opener.” It gave the county a chance to try the systems that were already in place even though ‘deaths were few and unusual’ and communication problems were localized.
“We’ve been working with amateur radio since 1988,” Price pointed out. “We all know the importance of working with amateur radio because if everything else goes down, they’re up.” Amateur radio equipment has been in place at the county’s major fire stations for some time. The group also works with the National Weather Service, reporting information to the radar facility in Wakefield.
During Hurricane Floyd when the communities of Franklin, Isle of Wight and Southampton were flooded, hams (amateur radio operators) logged 9,000 volunteer hours giving those residents their only means of communication. Its central office was under 16 feet of water, pointed out Jim Clark, the District Emergency Radio Officer. Some local hams went down to help and were met by surprised State Police, who couldn’t believe they were willing to go into the area to set up communication with the ‘outside world.’
Robert Vest is Chesterfield’s representative in Virginia RACES, a participant whose job and hobbies are similar. He has worked for the county for 20 years and now maintains communication and electronic equipment like the radios in police and fire vehicles, the tower sites and the dispatch center. Vest’s primary responsibility as the volunteer Chesterfield Emergency Radio Officer is to keep a list of trained operators so that the radios can be staffed during emergencies.
Ham radio license
The Federal Communications Commission controls ham radio operators and the use of the radios. Hams are the only radio operators allowed to build or construct equipment and must be licensed. The FCC issues licenses in three categories and mandates that operators may not get paid for their radio work.