• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

During emergencies, hospital will depend on shortwave radio

Emergency Management Alert, March 15, 2004

Christiana Care Hospital in Delaware is preparing for emergencies through 20th century technology, according to the News Journal.

Shortwave radio is the hospital's alternative communication system.

"If our usual routes of communication are damaged or inoperable for any reason, the amateur radio offers a backup method for maintaining contact with emergency management agencies, public health, and other hospitals," says Robert A. Rosenbaum, MD, chairman of the emergency management committee for Christiana Care.

Shortwave refers to radio signals 30 megahertz and below that have been popular with radio hobbyists for decades.

Since the September 11 attacks, interest in amateur radio for an emergency communication system is increasing, the News reports. Cell phones, police and fire radios, and land phone lines were all nearly shut down during the World Trade Center attacks in New York.

Amateur radio is often a cheap, dependable, low-technology backup to modern communications, says Ross Merlin, telecommunications manager with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

A December report for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said shortwave radio is an effective alternative. During a terrorism disaster drill involving 64 hospitals in Illinois, federal officials found the phone system was nearly overwhelmed by the demand for voice and data transmission and failed in at least one hospital. Ham radio was the only way one hospital was able to communicate.

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive