DMAT San Diego CA-4 * AUGUST 2004 Newsletter
****
Volume 13, Number 8 ****
A
deployable Disaster Medical Assistance Team. Affiliated with the National
Disaster Medical System. Founded 1991
DMAT San Diego CA-4 is a public benefit, non-profit 501(c)3 corporation.,
registered in the State of California and with the IRS.
Co-Sponsored
by: UCSD
Medical Center & International Relief Teams
Mailing Address: 200 West Arbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92103-8676
DMAT CA-4 Information Line: 619-543-6216
eMail address of Newsletter Editor, Jake Jacoby: ca4cdr@san.rr.com
DMAT CA-4 WEB site: http://www.dmatca4.org
CONTENTS
Calendar
Of Events..........................................Page 1
Hurricane Charlie Updates.............................. .Page 1
eMail from Bill Gephart ...................................Page 4
Search dogs from 9/11 Dying.............................Page 5
Travels for DMAT............................................Page 5
****
CALENDAR of EVENTS:
DMAT CA-4 Team Meeting
Wed. , August 25, 2004
18:00 hours
" Management of Thoracic Trauma in the field"
Speaker: Dr Julie Swain
Special Assistant to the
Director,
Division of Cardiovascular Devices
U. S. Food and Drug Administration
Team meetings the rest of the calendar year:
Wednesday, September 22, 2004 @ 1800 hrs.
Wednesday, October 27, 2004 @ 1800 hrs.
Wednesday, November 17, 2004 @ 1800 hrs (3rd instead of 4th Wednesday, due to
Thanksgiving holiday)
Wednesday, December 15, 2004: Holiday Party
Unless
announced, All team meetings will be held at the
DMAT CA-4 Ops Center
8830-G Rehco
Road, San Diego, CA 92121.
****
Saturday, September 11, 2004: RELEASE OF SOULS CONCERT and MEMORIAL .
DMAT CA-4 and San Diego Urban Search & Rescue Task Force to participate in
Flag ceremony. SIGN UPS NEEDED.
Thursday, October 7, 2003: The 7th Annual California Statewide Medical &
Health Disaster Management Conference, Temecula, CA 0700 to 1700 hrs.
Thursday thru Sunday, January 27, 28, 29 and 30, 2005: "Rough 'n' Ready 2005"
Statewide DMAT exercise, Los Alamitos Air Station.
May 2005, Date TBA : BATREX 2005 Exercise- Joint Training Exercise with SD
US&R TF. PLANNING TO BEGIN SOON.
****
Hurricane Charley UPDATES:
No Sit Reps from NDMS for
Hurricane Charley, but Press Releases from FEMA appear to be on the web:
http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease_print.fema?id=13404 (See, for
example, Release
Number: HQ-04-117).
Also, Situation Reports (SitReps)
can be found at
http://floridadisaster.org. Click on the Hurricane
Charley link.
Here is a gleaning of
emails from the web, which are related to the response, which I have selected
since they have the most information about the actual DMAT response: [EDITOR]
Date:
Sun, 15 Aug 2004 05:14:16 -0400 (EDT)
From: KMcgill911@aol.com
Subject: Re: Hurricane Charlie
FL5 is in Port Charlotte, We have taken over ER operations for Charlotte
Regional Hospital. The hospital is shut down, no power or water. We provided
care
for over 50 patients today.
Kevin G. McGillicuddy PA-C
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2004
06:37:16 -0400
From: Linda Garvey <lmgarvey@msn.com>
I am a RN with FL2. I work (ed) at Fawcett Memorial Hospital in Charlotte
County.
They are in the same condition as Charlotte Regional Hospital - generator power
and no water. Their ER is in operation to treat & release or transfer. Several
patients were treated yesterday.
We were expecting a DMAT to set up in the hospital parking lot yesterday, none
came.
All patients have been evacuated with the assistance of Ambulance services from
as far away as Miami, who arrived at 8 pm Fri. Thanks for your very
speedy response!
The National Guard is on site. Thanks again!
Broward County Sheriff's Department was observed at major intersections
directing traffic. Again - Thank You!
Thanks to everyone who is here that I did not see or recognize also.
Clean up has already begun. Preliminary estimates - 2 months before Fawcett
Memorial Hospital will be reopened.
I am able to be deployed but, my team is out of Ft. Myers, FL and put on
Alert Fri morning.
Would love to assist with another team, but not sure how to go about that.
I don't think that the admin. from my team is reachable due to communications
problems.
I am able to receive voice mail through my cell phone, but only able to retrieve
them via a land line.
Linda Garvey RN
FL2 DMAT
Date:
Wed, Aug 18, 2004
At any
rate FL-3 came home Tuesday night, leaving 5 nurses, 1 Doc, 1 Pharmacist in
our ED. FL-2 sent us a nurse(s) Historically FL-3 staged with FL-5 and then
went in and set up a full BOO at St Josephs ED parking lot in Punta Gorda the
night of the storm.
We supplied much logistical support to keep the ED running with lights and
generators etc.
We saw 100 + patients in the tents and over 150 in the ED
We moved the operation inside within three days and we sent the team home
leaving the aforementioned members.
Ronald A Wegner ARNP CRNA
Commander FL-3 Disaster Medical Assistance Team
US Department of Homeland Security
National Disaster Medical System ( NDMS)
Tampa Bay Regional Disaster Network Inc.
Anesthesia & Disaster Services Inc.
---- Original Message -----
From: <mailto:rroberts@dmatca11.org>Renee Roberts
Sent: Thursday, August 19, 2004 1:33 PM
Subject: Re: Hurricane Charlie
There was a pic of a patient inside the tent, posted on Yahoo news. The URL I
have is:
<http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20040817/capt.flca10108171953.charley_flca101.jpg>http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20040817/capt.flca10108171953.charley_flca101.jpg
At least it sure *looks* like a Western Shelter tent, and here is the caption:
"Federal
Emergency Management Agency director Michael Brown, left, talks with Bill
Nylander of Port Charlotte, Fla., as he is treated for a burned leg he received
while fixing his roof in Punta Gorda, Fla., Tuesday, Aug, 17, 2004. Brown
announced in Punta Gorda that more than 1000 checks have mailed to victims of
Hurricane Charley. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast) "That
looks like FL-5's stuff. Seen it a few times and it looks like their tent
set-up. They have a portable ac unit and tend to use their insulation panels to
keep the ac in.
Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2004 13:58:04 -0400
From: sonya@sonyagilmore.com
Subject: Re: Hurricane Charlie
I am proud
at least some of the Florida teams got to participate. I can tell you a few
tales about the FEMA run around one Florida team got. Read the headlines on the
Jacksonville Times Union from two days ago. We left Jacksonville and had
reporters and photojournalists traveling with us in our caravan. They got the
whole scoop about our team. It was a FEMA slam. It didn't help the cause any
better when Alan Gionet caught up with us in Sarasota and caught us standing
around the Bob Evan restaurant waiting for our orders as to where to go to next.
On the same day we were caught on video waiting for orders, we got 2 miles from
Arcadia and were told to turn around and return to the staging area in Ocala.
After we got back to Ocala, 4hr away, FEMA asked if we could send nurses to
Arcadia. WE WERE JUST THERE.....HELLO..... God be with the ones who made it
passed the bureaucracy and made it to where the people needed the help. From
what I saw, a few more medical stations set-up in areas such as Arcadia could
have been proven useful. These are the opinions of one person and do not
necessarily reflect the views of my teams, Thank You.
Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2004
15:03:59 -0400
From: captbob@sunline.net
Subject: Huricane Charlie
From the Storm front:
Hello everyone. Thought I would give you an update on what happened and is
happening here in SW Florida following Hurricane Charlie.
Most important--everyone on our team is alright. Some of us suffered major
losses of homes, belongings, vehicles and boats.......but we are alive and
everything else will eventually sort itself out.
For those of
you that went thru or to Hurricane Andrews in Miami, this would bring back all
the stark images of total destruction of Mobile home parks, conventional homes
completely flattened, roofs blown off, exterior buildings, garages and pool
cages completely missing, cars and trucks destroyed. The entire infrastructure
was demolished. Over 90% of the power lines in Punta Gorda were taken down by
the wind and falling trees. The majority of the poles were snapped in half
causing most roads to be blocked which really hampered the initial emergency
responses. Everywhere are huge trees uprooted and most of the ones still
standing have their tops broken off.
Communication was completely gone-- No phones, radios were inoperative and cell
phones were useless.No power anywhere. There were three hospitals in our
immediate area. All three suffered damage.Only one remained functional and then
only in a limited capacity.
Thankfully, our local EOC evacuated most of the parks and low areas prior to
landfall. Charlie seemed just a concern at Category 1.......and became our
nightmare when he accelerated and changed direction at the very last, becoming a
Category 4 (and at times a 5). Our complacency turned into fear as we realized
our error and did not have time to relocate our families to safer quarters. The
eye of the storm made a direct path up Charlotte Harbor and demolished a town I
was born and raised in. It will never be the same. Old familiar landmarks and
buildings with memories are gone. People are changed. It doesn't seem like
"home" anymore
People have been without electricity or water in some areas since the storm with
little expectation of having them back for several weeks yet. Many are living
still in darkened homes, or makeshift shelters trying to cope with the intense
heat, horrid humidity and the growing mosquito problem. With the large elderly
population here, it is rapidly becoming an issue to provide proper care for
them.
Today, post 6 days, much has been done to improve the situation. Main arteries
are cleared-- Power and water has been restored in a few areas-Phones are
beginning to work sporadically, cellular service is still pathetic
Loss of life has been minimal. Less than 25 so far.Hospitals are beginning to
function again, but still compromised.
Thank God for our DMATs- All the Florida teams joined in to help. FL5 was in
Punta Gorda and saw the largest patient load. John Caprio and his team have done
a fantastic job. FL3 with Ron Wegner set up at St Josephs in Port Charlotte and
took over their critical care. The professionalism and organization has been
well noted and recognized by the entire medical community. FL1 with Gary
Kruschke staged in Arcadia a few miles away and assisted that community as well-
LLoyd Parker with FL6 and Karen Ketche from FL4 were staged in Lakeland area
with the LST headed by our past commander Gary Lindbergh.Al 3 and Ga 3 helped
also and there may be more who responded. With the communications issue, it was
hard to track everyone and I have not intentionally left anyone out. Our team
rostered the night of the storm and has been assisting the other teams and
augmenting hospital staff as needed. Our cache, while wet, is still intact
although our warehouse sustained major damage
I know this is long winded, but I've had precious little time to contemplate how
much the DMAT family means to all of us.There may be petty arguments and turf
wars at times, but whenever there has been a crisis or emergency, we have all
pulled together to help each other. I cannot express enough gratitude to
everyone for their assistance, concern and support. Your e mails and calls have
helped us to survive a most frightening and catastrophic event. Thank you all
for being here for us.
Bob Hendrickson
Unit Commander
FL2 DMAT
My Task Force deployed at 2200 Friday night. We were all in uniform and it
facilitated the "group" all getting there together even though we didn't know
all the members of the Task Force and we came from many different departments.
We arrived in Port Charlotte at 0400 Saturday morning and at 0405 our task force
was joined with another and directed to Charlotte Memorial to evacuate the
hospital. There was no time to "dress" for the party. The military is in
uniform for the convoy in, stay in uniform for the mission, and are in uniform
when they demob. We should do no less.
Val A. Deutsch
****
From the CDR's eMail:
Here's an eMail from BILL
GEPHART, one our team members who has been on active duty with the US Army. His
alertness and astuteness should be noted:
Dr. Jake,
I'm sitting at an internet cafe in Nairobi, Kenya. Just had an interesting
experience w/ 5 well-dressed Kenyan men, who showed me their "Kenyan Police"
creds and "arrested" some native I had been talking to. They wanted me to go
with them to testify against the guy (...they said he was a known drug dealer).
I was suspicious mainly because I don't know what Kenyan PD credentials looks
like, and tried to get them to walk back to my hotel with me (because they did
act like real cops -- so I wasn't sure.) Anyway, about 4 mins into their
curb-side interrogation of me, I noticed that one of the inspectors was
shaking. He tried telling me it was malaria, but I thought it was because he
was nervous. So, while I thought briefly about taking the toughest-looking one
out, and then running like hell to my hotel room, I soon had the realization
that these tall, slim Kenyan dudes could probably catch my fat, white ass pretty
quickly, and that if they all decided to fight, I probably wouldn't stand a
chance. So, being the coward that I am, I pulled out the 1100 Kenyan shillings
(about $15.00) I had in my left front pocket and asked if they would like to buy
themselves some tea, while I went to my hotel to call the US Embassy. They
smiled and let me go. Still the whole time I wasn't sure if they were leg it or
not, but when I got back to my hotel, I asked one of the security guards to see
his Kenyan National ID card. Sure enough, it was the exact same card as those
that the two "cops" had shown me. An inexpensive lesson learned....
I wonder what would've happened if I got in their car with them????
Great newsletter, as always.
Please tell Ken Rogers thanks for the DMAT-relevant info off of the
Worldwide Web.
Lastly, I finally finished the DMAT Core courses from UMBC, and have done the
first couple "Advanced" classes. (It was a mind-blower to be sitting in the
middle of nowhere, in East Africa, listening to Ken Miller's voice talking to me
for about two hours about Advanced Airway Management!) In any event, most of
the courses are actually pretty interesting, and I've learned a lot of useful
info about DMATs and disasters in general. (Although it did take me a couple of
years to realize that the only time I would ever find to be able to work on the
classes, would be in the middle of the night. Since it's all web-based though,
that's pretty easy.)
Anyway, I hope you are all well, and it looks like I'll be released from the
Army in the summer of 2005, to come back to SD.
Well, brother, I need to go. Hope you and the family are well.
Your friend, Billiam G.
[Bill Gephart]
****
Also from the Web:
4 Search Dogs From Ground Zero Have Died Since 9/11
Eight Dogs Died From Cancer
POSTED: 7:31 am EDT August 23, 2004
NEW YORK -- Fourteen search and rescue dogs who dug through the rubble of the
World Trade Center have since died.
Eight of the dogs died from cancer.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine said
they don't believe there is a connection between the deaths and the chemicals
the dogs were exposed to.
But the New York Daily News said some dog owners blame the mix of chemicals
their dogs were exposed to during the hunt for survivors and remains after the
attack on Sept. 11, 2001.
The lead author of the study said the surviving dogs will need to be monitored
for the rest of their
lives. Dr. Cynthia Otto said if they begin to have health problems, there is a
good chance that people who worked to clear the site could have problems as
well.
****
Travels for DMAT
This has been a busy month for your DMAT leaders. The following have been
traveling for DMAT CA-4:
Scott Norton- to San Francisco in July for Logistics Training from FEMA
Zona Wahrenbrock - to San Francisco in early August for Administrative
Officer training by FEMA, to Los Alamitos Joint Training Base in August for
planning for the Off 'n' Reddy 2005 exercise, and to Denver, CO August 13th for
Budget Training by FEMA
Jake Jacoby - to Atlanta for Budget Training by FEMA on Aug 18th, to
Sacramento in June for the statewide Team Commander's meeting, and to Los
Alamitos for the first planning session for Rough and Ready 2005.
The time being put in to running our DMAT keeps increasing, as FEMA views as as
full time employees ( but only paid part time). Many thanks are extended to all
those who are responding to the needs of the team with extra work, and extra
time off from being with family. As the transition to FEMA continues, we need to
remain focused on our medical missions and preparedness. If you want to help our
team, the most valuable thing you can do is to get on line and start taking the
DMAT Core Curriculum already, and not put it off any further. In fact, it is
now REQUIRED, and as a team, we must progress towards 100% participation by our
team members. All old and new members MUST complete the Core Curriculum soon in
order to be qualified to deploy. In addition, we will find some of our budget
will be affected by the percentage of our team that is making progress towards
Core Curriculum completion. It is really quite valuable information, and almost
all units have been written by DMAT members, so you know the information is
practical and relevant. If you have trouble getting on line, contact our Team
Training Officer Sara Ontiveros, at OceanProwler@ yahoo.com. If your
computer is too slow to manage the course, contact Zona Wahrenbrock [zwahrenbrock@san.rr.com]
and make an appointment to come to our Ops Center and get online to take it on
our team computer.