Hospital Preparedness Program
During Fiscal Year 2004-2005 Kentucky purchased 16 negative pressure RexAir systems with Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP) funds and these were used during an emergency in June, 2009. Due to heavy rains, four TJ Samson Community Hospital Operating Rooms were damaged due to a leaky roof. Structural damage occurred in two of the operating rooms, including damage to the walls, ceilings, and windows, and two other operating rooms needed to be cleaned and restocked. An environmental safety group recommended that negative air machines be placed in all the damaged rooms to capture airborne dust and contaminants. Within 2 hours, four of the RexAir systems were deployed to the hospitals. The use of the negative air machines allowed the facility to control the air quality and reopen the operating rooms more quickly than if the equipment had not been available due to a leaky roof. These machines were purchased through HPP funds for all Kentucky (KY) Region 4 hospitals to increase isolation capacity. Within 2 hours, the four RexAir systems were deployed to the hospital with another four on stand-by for the hospitals within KY Region 4.
