DMAT San Diego CA-4
August 2003
* Newsletter
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Volume 12, Number 8
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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
May team meeting
Minutes................................Page 1
Commander's
Log............................................Page2
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CALENDAR
Next Team meeting --
Wed., August 27, 2003 @ 1800 hrs.
Training Subject: "Field splinting of extremities"
Presented by Dr Hal Forney, Professor of Orthopedics, UCSD School of Medicine
Where? DMAT San Diego CA-4 New Operations Center
8830 Rehco Road, Suite
G, San Diego
From I-805: Take Miramar Rd Exit EAST. Go 1.3 miles EAST to
Camino Santa Fe, Make left, proceed 0.5 miles to Carroll Road, Make
another LEFT onto Carroll Road, proceed west to the next light (Rehco Road)
and make a LEFT . Look for DMAT Ops Center on the Right.
From I-15: Take Miramar Road exit and head WEST on Miramar Road for
2.3 miles to Carroll Road. Make a RIGHT turn on Carroll Road (immediately
past the Pyramid building). Proceed approximately 1.0 miles to Rehco Road
(It's the first light after Camino Santa Fe).. Make LEFT turn on Rehco Road,
DMAT Ops Center is first driveway on the right. Remember, we have no mail
box at the Ops Center, so never use this address for mailing purposes.
* Operation Rough and Ready 2003. March Air Reserve Base, October
24th-25th and 26th, 2003. Joint exercise with all CA DMATs plus visitors
from other DMATs. Planning in progress, Sara Ontiveros, Planner for
CA-4. Sign ups now being accepted.
*NDMS Annual Meeting, Dallas, TX Apr. 17-21, 2004.
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JULY 25 Team Meeting
Minutes
Meeting commenced at 1815 hours at the new DMAT Ops Center Training Room. It
was noted that this was the first team meeting at our new site. Dr.
Christian Sloane, a CA-4 member and one of the ED Physicians at UCSD
Medical Center, was introduced. Dr. Sloane described various "Less-lethal
Weapons and Crowd Control Agents" that are currently being used or studied for
use by law enforcement entities. The significance of this topic for the DMAT
team members was related to the type of injuries that these "less-lethal"
weapons, etc., could inflict upon unruly participants (and also, conceivably,
innocent bystanders) at a mass gathering type of event (e.g., political
convention, WTO riots, etc.) that might involve DMAT participation.
Dr. Sloane described the basis for the use of tear gas, pepper spray, pepper
balls (analogous to "paint balls" shot from a gun), rubber bullets and
shotgun-propelled beanbags. The team learned that TASER stands for Thomas
A. Swift Electric Rifle . Graphic pictures were shown which
depicted some of the injuries to civilians that can occur secondary to being
struck by one of these weapons. In addition, Dr. Sloane discussed the physics
behind many of these "devices" and also described some crowd control agents
"of the future"; e.g., he showed a graphic which depicted a person being
immobilized after being doused with a slimy-sticky-gooey flypaper (minus the
paper) substance. The latter hasn't been used in real-life yet
though...probably because a solvent (or antidote) hasn't been developed yet to
remove it from the body of the alleged miscreant.
There was some spirited discussion about the merits (or lack thereof) of these
types of crowd control measures. Kudos and thanks to Dr. Sloane for the
interesting and informative training subject for DMAT CA-4!
Commander's Report:
Jake Jacoby presented details on the training event coming up with
USPHS Commissioned Corps Readiness Force candidates. at the U.S. Navy Sub Base
at Point Loma, Anti-Submarine Warfare Training Center. Since we have much
more experience than the CCRF in actual deployments, we will be doing multiple
hands-on training stations for the USPHS, including demonstrations of our lab
capabilities, pediatric and adult Resuscitation equipment. A 19 X 35 foot
Western Shelter tent will be brought just to have the CCRF members gain hands
-on experience in putting them and taking them down.
It was reported that pre-med students were assisting with the County of San
Diego Study of Hospital Bed Surge Capacity. "Good" progress reported so far
(about 60% complete)...the completed report will need to be submitted by
August 31 in order to satisfy the contract with the County.
A date for the skills tracking program being coordinated by Peggy Perkins
is yet to be determined
Committee Reports:
1.) Zona Wahrenbrock handed out new I.D. cards to team members in
attendance and verified current licensure status of the respective team
members. A sign-up sheet for snacks was passed around so that there can be
some food (dinner-type) or quasi-food available for those members who come to
the meetings directly from work and don't have time to get something to eat
before the meeting.
2.) Commo issues: An inventory needs to be performed of the radio equipment
and batteries will need to be replaced.
3.) Financial (Jake Jacoby): Team was informed that cost projections to
"update/renovate" the new OPS center would be in the $22,000.+ range but the
landlord has agreed to pay $13,000 of these expenses so estimated net outlay
for CA-4 should be under $10,000 using federal funds, in place of two months
free rent offered by the owner. Plans and ideas for the remodel were
discussed. At the meeting, a consensus was not achieved with respect to a
"final plan" for the remodeling plans. Jake estimated that it would take
approximately 3 weeks for the improvements to be completed after building
permits have been secured. Jake distributed a copy of the proposed OPS center
structural changes to each of the team members for their
approval/disapproval/comments.
Jake indicated that a 4-year lease was signed and that a maximum of $3500. was
spent to facilitate the move. Current balance in team account: $1,100.
Safety Committee: Michael Sohmer has a contact who might be interested
in this position
Training (Sara Ontiveros): Rough & Ready planning- will include all
California DMATs, Hawaii & Nevada teams being invited to participate.
New Business - Coyote fire update.
Meeting was adjourned at 2015 hours.
Submitted by Ken Rogers
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Commander's Log
* August 18th is the final day of
our current Federal budget. It has been a difficult year to plan for, since
our being asked to move on by our landlord came as a surprise when we found
out about it. But we have survived and gotten a better site for ourselves,
with more room. With that room, however comes more responsibility for our
team, to keep the space clean and maximally used for training and readiness
for deployments.
There will be remodelling going on once we are off First call.The remodel is
scheduled for starting on September 8th, and should last no longer than 25
days. We will be looking for members to assist in standing by, to watch our
for our critical supplies, during the remodeling. So if you have any days off,
and would not mind spending part of a day at our site, just watching our
items, while you read or do homework or research, then let us know. It will be
really for weekdays, as most construction companies don't work on weekends.
We are going to start a schedule shortly, please let us know if you can
assist.
* Annual dues of $20.00 is due from many of our members for our current fiscal
year ( July 1, 2003 to June 30,2004). If you have not paid your $20.00
dues,please do so as soon as possible. If you have any question, about whether
you have paid or not yet, check with Zona at the next meeting, or by email.
* October 24th is an open house at UCSD. We
have had DMAT tables the last few years at this event,. and it has been quite
a bit of fun. . I f you would like to assist in this activity, please let us
know.