In 2017, the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) simultaneously responded to not one, but three consecutive hurricanes, and at the direction of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), rapidly deployed expert personnel, Federal Medical Stations (FMS), and other supplies to the affected areas. Captured in September 2017, in response to the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, this image depicted the interior of what had been the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston. Photo by CDC on Unsplash
The purpose of this paper is to identify and posit solutions for critical issues related to the care environments being considered by policy makers as the COVID-19 crisis continues to affect more citizens of the world, and what specific considerations relate to this architecture. History instructs, and more specifically, Florence Nightingale demonstrated that the built environment had more of an effect on wounded soldiers than their initial wounds.(1) We argue that the built environment is a critical part of pandemic solutions and emergency preparedness. Most policy makers believe that any enclosed space may suffice, and simplistically think that space is space, patient rooms are patient rooms, and widgets are widgets. This is simply NOT the case. While the policy makers are wired for action and solutions, many simply don?t know and haven?t been properly advised. In fact, all of us are operating in a clumsy improvisational dance as we race against the calendar. Im...