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ISSUE 32 the flooding, it might as well be on the other end of the
globe. The makeshift hospital that may be in a parking
lot somewhere has to draw a line about who they might
see because of the massive influx of patients. So when
the secondary providers start getting that overflow of
patients it can be very overwhelming.ML: Emergency departments can be quickly over-
whelmed during a disaster. There is a certain capacity
that an emergency department can handle. If a hospital
has been decimated, there are other resources available.
Whether that is the Red Cross, churches, or universities,
there are opportunities for assistance. Some universities
can have nursing programs that can be valuable in a di-
saster situation. We have PODs (Places of Disbursement):
open POD where people come to a location where, say,
the health department has set up to care for people.
There are closed PODs where universities that have
nursing programs can help. These relationships are pre-
established prior to the disaster. The urgent care center
is also an option. Senior housing developments are a
potential option, because they have nurses and medica-
tions that may be useful. Medical reserve corps (MRCs)
should also be established before the disaster. These
consist of volunteers from the medical community who
are important to establish.Many people will want to help when a disaster
strikes. Where should they go to be most helpful?
ML: You want to check with the local emergency man-
agement agency. You can also check with Red Cross,
local churches, and walk-in clinics. Hospital and public
health agencies get some degree of assistance and are
required to have volunteer programs.JRG: There will be some sort of incident command
post that you can look for. If you see a tent in a park-
ing lot, somebody in there will be in charge. Let them
know what experience you have and what your cre-
dentials are, so that they can figure out how you can
best be used. The other thing I would say is don’t get
your feelings hurt if that person doesn’t immediately
pay attention to you or put you right to work. They
have to figure out how to incorporate you into the
plan in a safe manner.What about the surge of volunteers that shows
up to help?
ML: Agencies have the best intentions, but their intentions
convolute the process of response recovery. When we goHow often are you going through your med kit to
know it’s up to date?
KD: We do a quarterly inventory to make sure things
aren’t out of date. If something expires in that quarter, I
will pull that and purchase an update for the inventory.How many days of supplies should people
have on hand?
ML: FEMA really tries to educate people that a three-day
supply is adequate, but a disaster on a larger magnitude
may require a much longer supply. Three days is a good
start, but a more realistic view is that two to three weeks
of supplies is needed.If a disaster strikes and medical services are not imme-
diately available, would there be any medical resourc-
es or facilities that would make sense as alternatives?
JRG: In Houston during Hurricane Harvey, the local hos-
pital moved all of their critical patients to other facilities.
We set up a tent with the National Guard infantry units
and they didn’t have necessary medical and decon staff.
In a large-scale disaster like Harvey, there was a large
geographic area to have the National Guard cover. Those
units were being triaged themselves to areas where
they could do the most good. The problem then was
that the smaller areas were left to fend for themselves.
The small hospital was getting ready to go under water
and their supplies were going to be compromised. They
backed up a truck and loaded it with all kinds of medi-
cal supplies to take to the tent. We loaded stuff that we
thought was important — bandages, insulin, diabetic
supplies, nebulizers. We had a lot of resources, but the
resources get triaged just like patients. If the resource is
10 miles away, but there is no way to get to it because ofIf a hospital
has been
decimated,
there are
other
resources
available.
Whether
that is the
Red Cross,
churches,
or universi-
ties, there
are oppor-
tunities for
assistance.