Disaster Medical Teams Wrap Up Response to Hurricane Ike
Release Date: September 30, 2008
Release Number: 1791-064
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AUSTIN, Texas -- As Texans clean up and rebuild infrastructure lost to Hurricane Ike, thousands of people called for disaster duty are returning to their homes and regular jobs in distant states.
More than 1,000 federal medical personnel are among those who have finished their work operating medical special needs shelters and covering for displaced healthcare providers and broken hospitals. The acute care teams are coordinated by the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
"HHS is one of several federal agencies working with local, state, tribal and federal partners in Texas to help areas affected by Hurricane Ike regain critical services," Federal Coordinating Officer Sandy Coachman said.
Even before Hurricane Ike's landfall, NDMS personnel were on the ground, supporting state and local medical needs.
"We are grateful the Disaster Medical Assistance Teams came and pleased to see our local providers and hospitals are now operational," State Coordinating Officer Joan Haun said.
A Disaster Medical Assistance Team DMAT typically rosters 35 personnel, including doctors, nurses, paramedics, pharmacists, logisticians, planners, support staff and managers who are willing to drop whatever they do to spend two weeks or longer wherever they're needed, providing health and medical support to affected communities.
DMATs deployed for Hurricane Ike in Texas came from Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa , Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Texas.
As a whole and in smaller components called "strike teams," DMATs served emergency shelters and medical centers with healthcare personnel, equipment and supplies as needed. Locations were as diverse as the Convention Center in Houston and a store parking lot in hardest-hit areas.
Team members from Massachusetts slept in tents in the parking lot of University of Texas Medical Branch on Galveston Island, providing a full scope of emergency services to residents while their hospital's clinicians were displaced because of the hurricane.
On Friday, a man in his late 50s was found unconscious on Galveston Island. A bystander initiated CPR, which kept him alive until the Galveston EMS ambulance and medics arrived and used the AED automated external defibrillator. Once he regained a pulse, the patient was transferred to University of Texas Medical Branch where DMATs have been providing emergency room services.
"Our medical team determined the patient was having a massive heart attack and would be dead if he hadn't been found, stabilized by the bystander's CPR and the Galveston EMS," said Kevin W. Sirmons, M.D., NREMT-P, acting chief medical officer for the NDMS response.
The patient was transferred by helicopter to Memorial Herman Hospital in Houston.
Sirmons, a Houston native, was a medical resident at University of Texas at Houston and Memorial Herman when Tropical Storm Allison flooded the school in June 2001. He now is an emergency room doctor and paramedic in Minneapolis but Houstonians may remember him as a Harris County Emergency Services District #1 firefighter and paramedic.
"We're proud to be part of the federal response to support these communities in an austere environment during times of extreme need," Sirmons said.
As the DMATs turn over responsibilities to local healthcare providers, Texas disaster work continues for some Health and Human Services components. For long-term recovery, HHS is working closely with the state's health and medical leadership to assess the medical needs and determine the level of ongoing federal support.
The Disaster Mortuary Assistance Team staged facilities in Dallas and still has a portable morgue in Lake Charles, La., to help Texas and Louisiana handle disinterred remains.
Environmental and public health teams continue to assist the state in monitoring vector-spread diseases, infectious diseases, food safety, potable water and waste water safety, and blood availability in Texas communities struck by Hurricane Ike.
FEMA coordinates the federal government's role in preparing for, preventing, mitigating the effects of, responding to, and recovering from all domestic disasters, whether natural or man-made, including acts of terror.
Last Modified: Tuesday, 30-Sep-2008 15:52:16