D.R.M.C. ensures communication during disasters

In the event of an emergency, what would happen to our communications systems? Perhaps one place that needs it the most — the Coachella Valley’s only trauma center — found a more reliable solution to staying on the grid.

Desert Regional Medical Center is the first hospital in Riverside County to make sure these emergency calls still come in during a disaster, by using a satellite.

“What will now happen that this equipment is installed, it will automatically fail-over to a satellite system and all 2,000 phones in Desert Regional will remain active,” said D.R.M.C.’s Public Information Officer Richard Ramhoff.

According to Dan Bates, an EMS specialist with Riverside County Public Health, “We [emergency personnel] have numerous redundancies in place, but nothing that’s going to be as instantaneous as this satellite backup that will automatically takeover for your phone system.”

The satellite looks small but it’s powerful, and it has the best view at the hospital. Located on the roof, wires run down to the basement and connect to the phones. Before, hospitals would use radios or calls would be routed through an analog system.

“If you needed to call to the surgery floor or ICU, they could pick up the phone and call directly, which before we would use the radio system which they don’t have on every floor,” said Bates.

The project is being funded with $18,000 in grants from the Federal Hospital Preparedness Program. Eisenhower Medical Center is making the switch soon as well.

“The grant is a countywide grant, and the whole idea is to make sure the hospitals and health facilities in the event of a disaster, will have the fail-over to communicate with the preparedness officials,” Ramhoff said.

Follow Samantha Cortese on Facebook and Twitter.