RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — CBS 17 is digging deeper into disaster preparedness for our area.
With the coronavirus now in North Carolina, one local trauma center is ready to respond to disease outbreaks and other disasters.
Inside this WakeMed warehouse, you will find all kinds of supplies. The warehouse is also home to the Capital Regional Advisory Committee (CapRAC), one of eight, federally-funded teams geared towards medical responses to disasters all around the state.
“North Carolina is prepared,” Dale Hill, WakeMed Operations Manager for Preparedness Program said.
“We’re participating in weekly conference calls with our state-level partners,” Hill added. “We’re taking inventory of what we have that can help support the state, or could support a state mission in the event of a need related to the coronavirus.”
CapRAC serves five central North Carolina counties, including Franklin, Wake, Johnston, Harnett and Lee counties.
The team has experience responding to natural disasters, including hurricanes, and can be called on by state officials to help with infectious disease.
“Perhaps helping with something like extra space to care for people or patients, or maybe even to provide space to do things like a vaccination clinic, or do an assessment of people, especially if our hospitals or other healthcare facilities are taxed,” Hill said.
Hill told CBS 17 the unit is even capable of setting up a 50-bed facility. With other teams combined, up to 400 beds can be put together if needed.
“If we were able to set up the tents to create a facility, it would probably be most similar to an emergency department, not very similar to an intensive care unit,” he said.
For Hill, he believes they’ll be able to tackle any mission coming from the state.
“It does give me some comfort knowing that across the state, with the eight healthcare coalitions, that if our healthcare infrastructure has a need, we have the ability to support it,” Hill said.
Hill told CBS 17 they’ll continue keeping in touch with state partners moving forward.
