Three major hospitals in Bethesda, MD, have formed an Emergency Preparedness Partnership to improve and coordinate their responses to disasters.

The hospitals are the Clinical Centre at the National Institutes of Health, an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services; Suburban Hospital, a community-owned hospital serving Montgomery County and the surrounding area; and the National Naval Medical Centre, part of the Department of Defense. The NIH Clinical Centre is located between the Navy Medical Center on Wisconsin Avenue and Suburban Hospital on Old Georgetown Road.

"In this partnership, the 'whole' far exceeds what the three institutions could do independently," said Dr. John I Gallin, NIH Clinical Centre director. "Naval Medical Centre staff are skilled and trained to respond to all kinds of emergencies and Suburban Hospital is a level II trauma center. The NIH Clinical Centre has physicians who represent almost every medical and surgical specialty and subspecialty," he claimed.

Coordinated collaboration and capitalizing on complementary strengths are essential to an effective regional response to man-made or natural disasters in the Washington metro area, partnership leaders say.

"In the event of a disaster, we are obligated to protect and preserve the health and well being of our community," Rear Admiral Adam Robinson, Commander, National Naval Medical Centre said adding, "Pooling our medical resources will substantially enhance local emergency responsiveness and maximize the support we provide to our community."

"As a trauma centre, Suburban Hospital would have a major role in the event of a regional emergency," said Brian Gragnolati, President and CEO of Suburban Hospital. "This partnership will provide a mechanism to help us better serve both the community of Bethesda and the entire metropolitan Washington region should a natural or man-made disaster strike."

Partnership aims -Assuring that each institution can respond rapidly and effectively to any emergency situation; providing streamlined integration of the responses of the three partner institutions with other community, regional, and national emergency plans; establishing a model for other federal and private sector hospitals to form similar partnerships, the official statement says.

The Clinical Centre is the clinical research hospital for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Through clinical research, physicians and scientists translate laboratory discoveries into better treatments, therapies and interventions to improve the nation's health.