Fort Payne, Ala., is home to a 50-bed Alabama Department of Public Health mobile hospital aimed at providing medical care quickly in case of catastrophic emergencies in the state’s northeast corner.
Not unlike the facilities on the 1970s Korean War-based television show “M.A.S.H.,” DeKalb County’s mobile medical station is designed to get close to the action with self-contained electrical power, air conditioning and medical personnel and supplies, according to Michael Posey, deputy director of the county emergency management agency.
“We could have used it in 2011,” Posey said, referring to the tornado outbreak four years ago that claimed 35 lives in DeKalb and more than 240 statewide. “They could have used it to triage individuals that were injured and it would have been a good thing to have had during that storm because there was such a large number of patients.”
Between 200 and 300 people were injured by the deadly twisters, far more than medical facilities in Fort Payne could handle quickly, Posey said.
“It just overwhelmed them,” he said.