JRG: You have to be able to take care of yourself. If you
have a medical condition, you need to understand how
your body will respond in that setting. You have to stay in
the game to help as many people as you can.KD: The biggest thing is having a plan, but be flexible.
Don’t be so rigid you can’t think outside the box. There
are a lot of gray areas. Plan ahead. Practice carrying your
gear so you know if it’s feasible to carry around. At least
you are ahead of the guy who didn’t plan. It’s better to be
proactive than reactive.In Summary
When a natural or manmade disaster strikes, it may
be a prolonged period of time before help arrives.
Be prepared to fend for yourself. That means taking
classes, developing skill sets, and formulating a plan for
surviving the disaster aftermath. Make sure that you
know what you are capable of doing in various condi-
tions and train with your gear. Understand the emotion-
al components after the disaster strikes and how you
personally manage those within yourself and others.
Maintain flexibility in your thinking as someone trying
to survive the disaster as well as a responder trying to
help others. As Kerry Davis said, “No one is coming to
save you,” and it’s our responsibility to prepare and plan
before disaster strikes.down trying to help and it’s not a part of the coordinated
effort, there are now more people to feed, more places for
people to stay. This diverts the efforts from people who ac-
tually need the help to people who are there to help. Now
healthcare has to help people affected from the disaster,
but also the people who are there to help.
JRG: There are so many volunteers who just show up,
and there isn’t really a way to know what their experi-
ences are or what equipment they have. So it becomes
a situation where the volunteers can actually overwhelm
the system. The person who’s in charge on scene has to
be responsible for the people affected by the disaster as
well as the volunteers aiding in the disaster. The last thing
they want is to need to take care of the volunteer as well.
It’s not that help isn’t needed, but the chaos has to be
managed. Also, find an organization that has experience
in dealing with disaster services. Volunteer with them and
get some experience.
Any final thoughts?
ML: The nature of a disaster is that it catches us off-guard
so we have to be ready as a community. The community
is the glue that holds us together and we have to remem-
ber that we are a national community as much as we are
a local community.
WITHOUT A
H O S P I TA LAbout The Author
David L. Miller, DO, FACOI is an internist in private practice for 20 years. His
experiences away from the office have included time as a fight doctor in
regional MMA events and as a team physician for 10 years at a mid-major
university in the Midwest. Currently, he serves as the lead medical instruc-
tor for the Civilian Crisis Response team based out of Indianapolis.The big-
gest thing
is having
a plan, but
be flexible.
Don’t be so
rigid you
can’t think
outside
the box.