Amateur Radio in Hospitals for Emergency Use!

Recently, I came to know that major hospitals in Spokane, Washington have radio rooms attached to the Emergency Rooms. Routine use for them is for ambulance dispatch which occurs in the 150 MHz band, which is quite near amateur radio Very High Frequency (VHF) band. Hence it is possible to use same antenna setup in case of an emergency to use amateur radio for VHF band communications. Now what is amateur radio? It is a hobby permitted by the Telecom Ministry for those who pass an examination and obtain an Amateur Radio Station Operator’s License. From time to time, during natural calamities worldwide, when conventional communication services failed, amateur radio operators have provided crucial alternatives for emergency communications. Amateur radio is often considered as a medium of communication which works when everything else fails [1].

Hospital Radio Network is a group of radio amateurs in Oklahoma, United States, who work to link Oklahoma Hospitals using amateur radio, meant as an emergency support in case of conventional communication failure. In addition to a voice network, they could also use the Winlink email system prevalent in the US among radio amateurs. In the United States, Winlink is a network of amateur radio and authorized government stations that provide worldwide radio email using radio pathways where the internet is not present. The system has been activated even as recently as during Hurricane Lee affecting parts of Northeastern United States and Canada.

Reference

1.    Nollet KE, Ohto H. When all else fails: 21st century Amateur Radio as an emergency communications medium. Transfus Apher Sci. 2013 Dec;49(3):422-7. doi: 10.1016/j.transci.2013.08.002. Epub 2013 Aug 20. PMID: 24041739.