UW News

April 14, 2003

Harborview selected as one of only three hospitals in the country for an International Medical Surgical Response Team

Seattle, WA –Harborview Medical Center was recently selected under the auspices of Homeland Security as one of only three hospitals in the country to participate as a lead institution for an International Medical Surgical Response Team or (IMSURT). IMSURT is prepared to respond to man-made or natural disasters involving U.S. citizens worldwide by sending teams of surgeons, nurses, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, clinical engineering and other staff to provide triage and definitive care in the field. Special teams undergo extensive training to be ready to deploy to anywhere in the world within 16 hours notice.

“As the only Level I trauma center for the region, we believe that Harborview is especially well suited to respond to critical incidents that require triage and specialized trauma intervention,” says Dr. Ronald Maier, chief of surgery at Harborview Medical Center and UW professor of surgery. The faculty and staff of Harborview feel a deep commitment to provide outreach and share their expertise as a regional resource for an increasingly global community.

Maier and his colleagues at Harborview will be developing teams of volunteers to participate in IMSURT. “We have the leadership in place and need to identify qualified individuals who are willing to travel to disaster sites, with very little notice, and help communities in need of critical health and medical services,” says Maier. “We are looking for individuals with a variety of skills in specialty areas such as emergency medicine, orthopaedics, anesthesiology and surgery.”

Volunteers will receive training and will be issued special passports to allow for more rapid deployment. Work leave will be similar to that granted for military leave.

IMSURT works closely with the Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT). DMAT is deployed to disaster sites to provide support and triage in the event of a disaster while IMSURT provides high level specialty services and definitive medical and surgical care on site.

“We are very pleased to be a part of this service for our country,” says Johnese Spisso, Harborview’s chief operating officer. “This is part of the role that Harborview has played in the Seattle/King County community for many years and is just a natural extension of our preparedness.”

Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and University of Miami Ryder Trauma Center are the two other IMSURT hospitals in the United States.

Harborview Medical Center is owned by King County and managed by the University of Washington. The medical center is the only Level I adult and pediatric trauma center for Washington, Alaska, Montana and Idaho. In a national study by the University HealthSystem Consortium, Harborview had the lowest (severity adjusted) trauma-related mortality rate of all 64 academic medical centers surveyed.

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