Entertainment industry stage technicians have designed and built a temporary hospital and employed Hollywood technology in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The blueprint, created at the Liacouras Center, a concert and sports venue in Philadelphia, "allows for the current Army Corps of Engineers field design to be modified using entertainment technology to include life-sustaining utilities," explains Michael Barnes, IATSE's international vp and president of the Philadelphia Stage Local 8.
This includes lighting, individual power drops and oxygen lines straight to hospital beds.
"ETCP [Entertainment Technician Certification Program] certified technicians are very well-versed in setting up large volumes of equipment for touring shows in under 12 hours. If we can spread the word that this is a possibility, our hope is that technicians in other communities will have the same opportunity," Barnes says, noting that these union members are available to work with the Army Corps of Engineers and FEMA in arenas and convention centers throughout the country.
