Pitkin County has a team ready to set up a temporary public health facility if an outbreak were to occur in the valley. And now, a reorganized medical surge trailer is user friendly for anyone who that task might fall on.
The trailer is equipped with basic medical supplies, cots and IVs. The Pitkin County Public and Environmental Health Department recently reorganized the equipment, with the goal that anyone who would need to set up an alternate care site would be able to quickly find and access all the supplies.
In the 15 years that the county has owned the mobile medical storage it has never been needed. But because of the density of Aspen and Snowmass Village, limited transportation options, and high volumes of international visitors, an outbreak of something like H1N1, or another infectious disease that could overwhelm local health facilities.
The trailer is parked by the Snowmass Village fire station. The department’s next step is to identify ideal locations for a potential temporary public health facility.
