SCHEART Partners
The SCHEART System is the result of the constant and creative collaboration among many partner organizations – those listed below are the major contributors:
Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES):
In January 2004, the USC-CPHP and South Carolina Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC), Charlie Miller, AE4UX, began collaborating with the visionary ham radio operators and engineers who created a pilot ham radio communications project for Charleston-area hospitals. The group laid the groundwork to develop a new, statewide amateur radio communications system that would be known as the SCHEART Project. Although funding was available in the public health community to conduct drills and exercises, in many instances, ham radio operators had not been invited to participate. As a result, state and local agencies were unfamiliar with the capabilities of ham radio. Immediately, the USC-CPHP and Charlie Miller began collaborating with the visionary ham radio operators and engineers who created HEART [see below] to plan development of a new, statewide amateur radio communications system that would be known as SCHEART.
American Radio Relay League (ARRL):
South Carolina is one of the forward-looking states that places day-to-day and emergency radio operations control in the hands of one senior leader. South Carolina Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC), Charlie Miller, AE4UX, is the person who handles both responsibilities. Charlie also collaborates closely with SCHEART leadership to promote this system of redundant communications for hospitals statewide.
Hospital Emergency Amateur Radio Team (HEART):
The original Hospital Emergency Amateur Radio Team (HEART) was established to support hospitals during emergencies, to facilitate coordinated responses to emergencies, and to facilitate patient movement or evacuation when necessary. The HEART organization served Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties, and is the model from which SCHEART developed. In addition to supporting hospitals in the low country, HEART offers its support to the American Red Cross, state and local government, and SKYWARN. The success of HEART led to the statewide initiative known as the South Carolina Healthcare Emergency Amateur Radio Team (SCHEART).
Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC):
A group of concerned amateur (ham) radio operators and engineers at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) first saw a need to establish a backup communications system to support hospitals along the coast during major hurricanes or disasters. They initiated the Hospital Emergency Amateur Radio Team (HEART) project.
South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC):
Development of the SCHEART system was originally planned as a five-year project. However, that was before SCDHEC joined the team. Their support was instrumental in providing funding that expedited the building of the hospital preparedness opportunities for the SCHEART network. SCHEART continues to work closely with SCDHEC to coordinate hospital readiness and training initiatives. The SCHEART project receives funding and support from SCDHEC, using funding from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response under the Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP). The HPP has approved funding for support of more than sixty hospitals and healthcare facilities with amateur radio equipment and the SCHEART network infrastructure.
South Carolina Educational Television (ETV):
The South Carolina Educational Television (ETV) remains a driving force behind the development of SCHEART. The system was only a vision until ETV took on the responsibility of the design, installation and maintenance of the infrastructure. The SCHEART communications infrastructure consists of a series of repeaters strategically located around the state to support the eight public health regions. These individual repeaters can be linked together to form an emergency communications network statewide or can be used individually for wide-area communications. The SCHEART redundant communications network is located at broadcast and microwave towers owned and operated by the South Carolina Educational Television Network (ETV), using the ETV microwave network as its communications backbone. ETV co-owns and maintains the SCHEART emergency communications network for the benefit of the statewide initiative.
South Carolina Emergency Management Division (SCEMD):
In 2004 the South Carolina Emergency Management Division approached the USC-CPHP to help bridge a gap in preparedness communications by collaborating with the State Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) to recruit and train ham radio operators to help at the county level during emergencies. This request was the beginning of a new collaboration among committed partners that grew to be SCHEART. The SCEMD mission was to improve redundant communications for the statewide Palmetto 800 MHz trunked system using amateur radio, and to provide training to increase the number of trained operators available for emergency operations centers.
South Carolina Hospital Association (SCHA):
The South Carolina Hospital Association provides guidance, leadership, and liaison between the public health preparedness and hospital/healthcare communities, participating and supporting training, exercises, drills, and real-life events. The SCHA has created an EOC to be stood up in emergencies where hospitals need communications support to maintain staff and patient safety. The USC-CPHP, SCETV and SCDHEC, and SCHA work closely to leverage funding and support for this initiative. Through their relationships and the direct support of the ARRL Section Manager, Dr. Jim Boener, N2ZZ, and Charlie Miller, AE4UX, the group has leveraged in excess of 4 million dollars in funding and resources for the SCHEART initiative. This level of funding and support for amateur radio is possible because of the close working relationship between the various groups.
