As the battle against COVID-19 continues, medical providers all over the world are expanding their capacity to treat patients through the construction of temporary hospital facilities and tents. Power management company Eaton and its partners recently helped realize a project by the United States Army Corps of Engineers at Stony Brook University Hospital in New York, supplying essential power distribution equipment for four temporary medical facilities with the capacity to treat more than 1,000 patients. Construction on the facility is expected to be completed this week, with nearly 100 Eaton heavy-duty safety switches providing reliable power distribution to support life-saving ventilators and other devices.

Local distributor Benfield Electric Supply contacted Eaton with an immediate request: the Stony Brook University project was moving quickly, and the need for electrical infrastructure was urgent. Eaton acted fast and launched a coordinated effort between its EatonCare services team, facilities in Fontana, Calif., Duncan, SC and its Switching Devices Flex Center in Cleveland, Tenn., to secure and ship the needed safety switches and installation kits to local partner E-J Electric Installation Co., the contractor deploying the solutions. In all, the process for shipping, deploying and starting up the equipment took less than 48 hours.

“Having access to reliable power is an essential part of the rapid construction of expanded healthcare facilities to get patients critical care,” said Justin Carron, global healthcare segment manager, Eaton. “When you’re dealing with an urgent medical crisis like the coronavirus pandemic, time is a luxury you simply don’t have. The collaboration demonstrated by our team in delivering these solutions for the Stony Brook project underscores our dedication in supporting the needs of our customers and communities at this critical time.”

The power management solutions provided by Eaton are helping distribute efficient, reliable power to ventilators and other medical equipment used for the more than 1,000 beds in the four tent facilities. Eaton’s heavy-duty safety switches are field-tested to operate in environments where downtime is not an option.

Learn more about how Eaton is helping meet the needs of healthcare providers during COVID-19.