Pandemic PODS and temporary medical structures
Since the outbreak of the COVID19 virus at the end of 2019, we have had constant exposure to how it is spreading across the world through the media ever since, including when on European installations of event structures for corporate clients. We have seen this grow from epidemic to pandemic in a short space of time. We didn’t, however, think that it would ever affect us that greatly or would cancel events for 2020. With postponements and cancellations, the majority of event-related enquiries then dried up and were replaced by requests for inflatable hospitals and temporary medical tents. All the media and news now seems a whole lot more real.
Our temporary inflatable structures have a lot of benefits in deployment and when in operation. These benefits soon became apparent to the healthcare sector as the need to provide medical aid for mobile testing for the Coronavirus was high.
Pandemics can rarely be predicted and the human cost and strain on governments resources especially in the healthcare sector can be overwhelmed and swamped within a matter of weeks. Alleviating the problem of additional space is made a lot easier with the introduction of pop up inflatable hospital space.
Our range of pods and pop up walling systems separate and segregate those infected with their own environment where the risk of cross-contamination can be reduced.
The medical requirements for temporary structures can be split into a few categories; testing, hospitals and the community.
Testing
We’ve all been told and read up on when to self isolate and how to do it, but until testing becomes widespread, we can only really self diagnose, some with symptoms mild to acute. It is only in the hospital that cases are confirmed. Taking a look at other countries’ reaction to this crisis, it’s clear it is all in the testing to reduce the spread of the virus. The more a country tests, the fewer the cases and therefore concurrent deaths.
At Optix Structures, we offer various different designs and structures for mobile testing for:
Create additional hospital space with a fast install of the inflatable structure
COVID19 testing tents
Testing PODS
Inflatable clinics can particularly help in times when healthcare needs additional support, such as a pandemic where drive through testing tents and structures are needed to test the public in their cars.
Temporary Hospital Space
Our range of portable pandemic pods is easy to transport, meaning the smaller pods can be moved around areas and floors of the hospital. If venues are being converted into temporary makeshift-hospitals then our pop up medical pods can populate space with sectioned areas within minutes. Inflatable medical tents and structures can help to alleviate busy times by providing makeshift surgery theatres, patient wards and private hospital rooms.
Village halls, schools and large public buildings can be transformed with our inflatable range for healthcare and the medical industry. Dozens of pop up cubicles can be created within minutes and are easily moved from ward to ward or transported to other venues.
Intensive care units struggle with bed space and areas to accommodate patients. Temporary medical structures can cope with spikes of patients by providing a safe, clean and workable environment for hospital beds, respirators and monitors. A&E departments can function as per normal with affected patients being effectively quarantined in a separate area of the hospital grounds
Uses of inflatables within hospitals:
Infection control: Coronavirus infected cases can be quarantined with the structure able to be deep cleaned and disinfected
Cubicles, separating patients, allowing a private space
Temporary operating theatre partitions
Imperial College London have developed their own system for simulation and training. View the article here.
If needing additional space outdoors in the car park, our medical inflatables are well insulated with air cavity walls. In addition, the medical pods can be deployed on any surface inside or outside, from tarmac to grass. Our inflatable medical structures can be heated and similarly cooled in warmer days allowing similar conditions to that of usual hospital facilities.
A hard flooring system is also available to provide a solid working platform and one that can be cleaned with ease.
Working lights are essential and are also an addition to any temporary medical structure allowing front line staff to carry on with their important work around the clock.
In the Community
From a community perspective Doctors surgeries can be overrun and appointments can be booked up way in advance. Temporary testing spaces allow people to travel less by popping up in venues across the community. This reduces the workload on the NHS main sites. Inflatable structures are the ideal solution to creating more space for when waiting rooms become overcrowded.
In the unfortunate case of palliative care and cases where a pandemic may cause an influx of deceased. The need to accommodate additional cases with temporary morgue space rises significantly. Due to the design of inflatables structures, the air cavity walls and roofs are inherently good insulators, the interior space can be remotely chilled to allow bodies to be stored of 2-6 degrees celsius. Our structures can then be used as a privacy screening when ice skating rinks are to be used as a temporary morgue.
When this current pandemic draws to a close, it will continue to affect many people through mental health for years to come. Furthermore, financial worries will take some time in all industries to recover and flourish again. There will always be the need for temporary pop up clinics as countries and governments will be on high alert to reduce the impact in the event of any further outbreak.
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