According to this story, systems integrator NetXperts has developed a satellite based communications system called Remote CLOUD to bring hospital communications back online in the event of a disaster that renders local phone or Internet communications inoperable.

Disaster planners, businesses and hospitals are interested because
the device enables its small command and control keyboard to use the
satellite to link with the Internet and quickly resume voice and data
service through laptops, desktop computers, hand-held radios, Internet
Protocol phones and fax machines.

"They are all on the same calling group, an Internet Protocol
address," said Rod Harrison, general manager of the company, Cloud
Solutions, a division of San Ramon-based NetXperts Inc. "It allows for
information to be coordinated and re-routed to their secure area and
system."

That means not only quick communication to respond to the emergency,
but also substantial data capability that will speed recovery by
enabling business to quickly resume operations, said Harrison.

The capability can be expanded through a portable Wi-Fi zone as
large as 36 acres, which means it could be used to cover an entire
hospital campus, a public building designated for use as a quarantine
zone in a flu pandemic, or a tent city housing first-responders who
arrive to help and then must bivouac.

Disaster recovery plans frequently include communications with state and federal agencies, not to mention the need to access regional facilities for logistics and response coordination.

Pictured right is a Motorola 9500 satellite phone - as the Cloud Solutions site doesn't metion a specific phone (no photos either) I thought this would be representative of the type of phone in this system.