News Archive
Western Shelter Mobility, United Health Group and Project Hope Team Up to Bring Healthcare to Those in Need.
Bringing quality health care to people in need, especially those in remote areas, has been a challenge for many years. When United Health Group and Project Hope discovered the need for more diabetes treatment and care facilities, Western Shelter Mobility provided a unique solution. The Mobility team designed an innovative system of 28’ trailers that could interconnect to form a quickly deployed and fully functioning mobile clinic.
Harnessing the power of telemedicine, these mobile clinics are equipped with satellite technology to provide real-time consultations between medical specialists and patients. This allows mobile clinics to be set up in areas of need, often in a remote setting, yet still connect patients to specialists across the globe. In order to achieve this goal, the team at Mobility outfitted each trailer with a 1.8 meter satellite dish that enables video conferencing and streamlined communications. Additionally, each trailer comes complete with standard medical technology from weight scales to retinal scanners. These devices, combined with telemedical technologies, allow practitioners to provide high quality care in a comfortable mobile medical environment.
This innovative combination of cutting edge medical practice and expert mobile design, allows United Health Group and Project Hope to take preventive and treatment based care where it is most needed. The first installment of these interconnecting trailers will be heading to New Mexico May 1st, 2010. These trailers will be deployed as a mobile diabetes clinic that will offer both prevention and treatment options.
For additional information on Western Shelter Mobility and their other ground breaking mobile medical solutions, please visit us at www.westernsheltermobility.com
Information on Project Hope and their current initiatives can be found at www.projecthope.org
See how United Health Group is helping people to live healthier lives at www.unitedhealthgroup.com
Western Shelter Mobility and TomoTherapy Takes Cancer Treatment To The Road.
When TomoTherapy sought a solution for mobile radiation therapy, the team at Western Shelter Mobility provided an innovative answer: a mobile trailer that could offer all the quality of a permanent clinic. With a combined history of working on custom built mobile solutions, the
team at Western Shelter Mobility knew just how to incorporate all the elements needed to take TomoTherapy to the road.
TomoMobile is the custom-designed mobile clinic created by Western Shelter Mobility to help TomoTherapy bring their cancer treatments to more people in need. Outfitted with a control room, patient intake/prep area and treatment room to house the Hi-Art system, TomoMobile is equipped with the tools and space necessary for medical practitioners to bring quality care where it is most needed. One of the largest challenges in creating a mobile solution for radiation based treatments is the incorporation of all the necessary shielding around the Hi-Art system. The team at Mobility produced an innovative solution, protective shield expansions that can be removed from the trailer during travel and bolted into place on scene. This development allowed added mobility while reducing the initial set up time.
After several months of creative planning and hard work, the first TomoMobile made its debut at the annual Astro Conference in Chicago last November. Western Shelter Mobility staff was on hand at the Astro to help TomoTherapy with the set up of their first TomoMobile. The team at Western Shelter Mobility will soon begin production on a second TomoMobile trailer to be released this spring.
COBALT EQUIPMENT EXPANDS RENTAL FLEET WITH WESTERN SHELTER MOBILITY 
When Cobalt Equipment, one of the leading rental contractors in the country, wanted to add mobile GIS Mapping and Communications trailers to their emergency response rental fleet, Rob Knabe turned to Western Shelter Mobility Systems.
Cobalt needed maximum capability, bullet-proof electronic systems, comfortable functionality, and the highest quality possible…all at a budget that makes good business sense. And they needed it “right now, because the wildland fire season is about to start!”
Long-time shelter supplier, Western Shelter Systems of Eugene, Oregon, had dramatically expanded their custom-engineered trailer manufacturing facility in ‘07 to include the Mobility Systems operation, led by the design and engineering team of Al Shattuck and Mike Cheever.
Cobalt contracted with Western Shelter Mobility Systems first for their 53’ Geographic Information System (GIS) Mapping and Operations Center trailer, and then followed immediately with their 53’ Satellite
Communications trailer.
The Cobalt GIS Mapping Trailer is a 3-room facility that includes a forward Mapping Room with map storage, map table and two plotters. The mid-located Tactical Command Area is over 24’ long and has at least five workstations. The aft Storage Area has plenty of storage and rear entry access.
The Cobalt Communications is a 4-room facility that includes three dispatch workstations in a 22’ long central section, two workstations in the aft Radio Room and Work Center, a Galley with entryway, and a forward private Office and Work station with the mainframe rack. A large screen monitor was mounted behind a weather-proof exterior panel, so briefings can be held for a large group under the 20’ awning. An electrically-actuated retracting satellite dish is mounted on the trailer nose and two 3.5 ton HVAC units are mounted on the rear of the trailer.
Both trailers have extensive storage space mounted in roll-out belly boxes beneath the trailers’ main frames. They were finished out with fresh paint and graphics to Cobalt specifications. And, yes, both trailers were ready for the fire season. On time, under budget, and always to the highest ISO 9001:2000 quality standards.
Located in Pleasanton, California, Cobalt Equipment offers the emergency response community full rental support for all temporary housing needs including temp-power, HVAC, mobile kitchen unit, dining facilities, shower units, mobile laundry units, emergency fueling trucks, and water trucks.
Because communication is so important in a disaster situation, Cobalt offers a full scope of communication equipment and support. Their satellite communication system was featured in USA Today as cutting edge. Satellite phones, internet services and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) are just a few of their high-tech services offered in any location.
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Mississippi Mobile Response System
Featured at NDMS ’08 Conference
Mississippi’s Mobile Response Trailer System (MRTS) and GateKeeper 50-bed Disaster Field Hospital System was the featured exhibition during the recent National Disaster Medical Systems (NDMS) conference in Nashville, TN.
Conference attendees toured the federally-sponsored Mississippi State Medical Assistance Team (SMAT) emergency response trailer system. Each system consists of a custom designed 53-foot response trailer and an onboard, fully self-contained, six-shelter GateKeeper mobile medical complex. Both the trailer and the shelter equipment were designed, engineered, and provided by Western Shelter Systems.
Mississippi’s three SMAT mobile 50-bed field hospitals come close on the heels of North Carolina’s deployment of eight such mobile response systems. Western Shelter has been the preferred sheltering system for the NDMS DMAT and FEMA USAR teams since 1992.
“The Mississippi State Department of Health, Office of Emergency Planning and Response (OEPR), was proud to be able to demonstrate to our fellow first responders our regional response disaster medical response solution”, said Pam Hemphill, Emergency Management Coordinator, University of Mississippi Medical Center. “Being the only Level I Trauma Center in the State, as well as the only Children’s Hospital in the State, we knew that we needed to have something that would help us provide continuous coverage for any type of event. Western Shelter has provided us with a 150-bed field hospital that will not only serve our needs locally, but state wide as well.”
“The decision to take on a “hospital on wheels” was no easy task”, continued Hemphill. “Our teams are staffed by employees from UMMC, colleagues from the Health Department, Baptist Hospital, River Oaks Hospital, private companies, and various other agencies. Thanks to the dedication and determination of Drs. David Powe and Bob Galli, we are able to implement the vision we developed with the Health Department and Mississippi Hospital Association.”
“The people at Western Shelter have been wonderful to work with because they listen to what the people want, and they have the expertise to know what will work in a field setting”, Hemphill said. “Together, we have a win-win situation.”
Additional Background to this story:
The Mississippi Mobile Field Hospital specifications were designed to meet current standards for equipment that already exists within Mississippi and surrounding states. Western Shelter Systems are currently being utilized by the Mississippi SMAT and USAR, VISN Region 16 Department of Veterans Affairs, all North Carolina SMAT and USAR, all Florida DMAT and USAR teams, all Georgia DMAT and USAR, all South Carolina USAR, New Orleans and Louisiana Hospital Associations, all Oklahoma DAMT and USAR, and all Federal Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) and Federal Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) Teams that support the state.
These teams are the primary and secondary teams that will be responding to assist Mississippi during the time of Disasters of National Significance. Mississippi, North Carolina, and Florida are the leading states within the ESF-8 HRSA Region 4; and Western Shelter Systems shelters and support equipment were selected to standardize efforts and assets throughout the region.
Western Shelter Mobility Systems Expansion |
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Western Shelter Systems has expanded its trailer customization capabilities with additional manufacturing space and a dedicated workforce of experienced trailer and motor coach manufacturers. In recent years, many Western Shelter customers have added customized Custom features include multi-functional benefits to response teams, such as: Whatever customized requirements to fit the mission and scope of the client are available from Western Shelter Mobility Systems. With over 75 years of customized trailer and motor coach experience, the expanded operation is led by the design and engineering team of Al Shattuck and Mike Cheever. This expansion by Western Shelter Systems builds on the already considerable successes that Western Shelter has had in providing customized trailers for the American disaster response community. Deliveries in 2007 range from customized 12-foot cargo trailers to 53-foot fully self-contained Mobile Response Trailer Systems with 50-bed GateKeeper field hospitals. Western Shelter has worked closely with its federal, state, and local customers to create storage, transport, and operational vehicles that precisely fit their mission and scope. Call today for more information about adding a Western Shelter Mobility storage and transport trailer to your shelter specification to gain additional on-site operational support for your mission. |
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trailers to their shelter system specifications in order to provide both storage and instant transport to their response capability. Trailers have become important aspects of taking the response team to the incident, whether it’s across town or cross-country mutual aid. 
Western Shelter Mobility Systems is dedicated to producing your specialized trailer or coach on time, on budget, and to the highest quality in the customized manufacturing business.