Hospitals in Strafford County, N.H., joined local agencies and schools in a training exercise that practiced setting up alternate care site (ACS) during a pandemic emergency, according to an article on the Firehouse website.
The exercise focused on the ability to set up and administer oxygen to noncritical patients in the ACS, a temporary facility that can be set up quickly to provide limited patient services during an emergency or disaster.
The purpose of an ACS is to help take the pressure off a hospital that may be over capacity in an emergency.
During the exercise, local first responders, hospital and healthcare staff and employees from other local agencies worked together to set up equipment and walk through a scenario in which an ACS would be required, the article said.