Portable isolation rooms to further protect country residents

The WA Government has bolstered Western Australia’s emergency preparedness for COVID-19 with 10 portable isolation anterooms.

Six of the anterooms will be deployed to keep regional and remote Western Australians safe from the spread of infectious diseases, including COVID-19.

A further four portable anterooms will be held in a central location for deployment to WA metropolitan hospitals, if necessary.

The Safespear portable anterooms can convert any room into a negative pressure or positive pressure isolation room to keep infected patients in a safe, separate space, as well as protecting vulnerable patients from the threat of infectious diseases.

Safespear is a local Western Australian, Aboriginal-owned business which is engaging with local manufacturers to create the anterooms.

The anterooms fit to an existing doorway and form an airlock entrance with the accompanying ventilation systems creating negative or positive pressure to prevent infectious airborne or droplet transmission.

The portable anterooms will be deployed to WA Country Health Service locations including: Derby in the Kimberley; Carnarvon and Geraldton in the Midwest health region; Esperance in the Goldfields; Katanning in the Great Southern; and Collie in the South-West.

Given the portable nature of this specialised equipment, the anterooms can be transported quickly to other sites if required.

The investment is in addition to the $10 million announced last week to increase the supply of locally made personal protective equipment.

Source: WA Government