HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania hospitals are volunteering to accept gravely wounded Haitians at the request of the U.S. military, Gov. Ed Rendell said Monday.

Rendell said Pennsylvania was one of five states asked last week by the military to care for Haitian earthquake victims.

"The United States of America has always stood for its willingness to help people in need," Rendell told reporters at a news conference Monday. "They don't have to be American, we've always been there, we've always been the safe harbor."

Carolyn Scanlan of the Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania said the wounded could include amputees and paraplegics.

Hours after Rendell spoke on Monday, the federal government activated parts of its National Disaster Medical System. That means teams from the federal government, and not the state, will screen patients getting off military flights and decide when and where wounded Haitian earthquake victims are treated in Pennsylvania, said state Health Department spokeswoman Stacey Kriedeman said.

Kriedeman said the list of hospitals willing to take the victims is likely to grow as the federal government searches for volunteers.

On Monday, it included some of the biggest healthsystems in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia — including the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Pittsburgh — as well as St. Vincent in Erie and Ephrata Community Hospital in Lancaster County.