PEORIA, Ill. — Taking inspiration from what the state government has done with Chicago’s McCormick Place, City of Peoria officials have been discussing potential locations for makeshift hospitals in case of regular hospital overflow.
“There’s been discussion for several weeks now on contingencies on what happens if we need to expand the emergency services more than we’re already prepared for,” said Mayor Jim Ardis.
Ardis said “several different locations” have been tapped as places that could be turned into pop-up hospitals if need-be, depending on the community need.
“The Civic Center is certainly one that is a potential location due to its size and its proximity to health care [facilities],” he said.
Andrew Rand, Peoria County Board Chairman, said Peoria’s health care systems have already deployed triage areas in front of their buildings in preparation for handling patient volume.
In other words, “to make sure they can control patients who need to go inside, and those who can go somewhere else,” he said.
Rand said the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, National Guard, and Federal Emergency Management Agency would be involved in constructing any larger scale makeshift hospitals, like the Civic Center.
