Report from Brian, OH-5 after the
"New York Ice Storms"
This letter is going out to both family and friends
to give you a brief update of the events that have occurred on my deployment
to upstate NY. I think I contacted most of you last Sunday to inform you
that I was leaving for NY on this deployment. It was a result of
the Kentucky DMAT (disaster medical assistance team) KY-01 team being activated
on Sunday and being ready to leave Monday morning to upstate NY to render
medical assistance. The federal government was asking for physicians,
nurses primarily and the Kentucky Team called our team (Dayton OH-5) DMAT
team and asked for nurses and docs who could go. Myself and three other
members were able to go( Penny Mills RN, Bonnie Smith
RN, and Jim Fenno MD). Our Dayton members all had
less than 12 hours to get our equipment and needs in order.
On Monday morning Jan 12th at 3:30am our
team headed for St Luke's Hospital to meet up with the KY-1 team which
is based at that hospital. The hospital is just a couple of miles from
the Cincinnati Airport. At 4:40am we arrived at the DMAT office at
the hospital and we were issued cold weather gear. At 5:45am we were sworn
in and federalized employees and at 7:15am we were on board a Delta Airlines
headed for Albany NY.
On arrival to Albany Airport we were transported
by bus to the Albany Holiday Inn. The FEMA (Federal Emergency Management
Authority) had set up headquarters at the Holiday Inn. On arrival
we were also met by other DMAT teams coming into NY The DMAT folks
I met were from Massachusetts, Michigan, California, and some Florida
folks were there also. On initial arrival we were not sure were we
were going in NY as the FEMA folks were still working out the details.
At about 2pm we were told that we would be going to a little town called
Melone, NY. If you were to look at a map and followed the NY/VT border
north to where it meets the Canadian border you would then go west about
40 miles and find the town of Malone sitting right on the edge of the Canadian
border.
We were issued seven four wheel vehicles
in Albany and loaded our compliment of 32 personnel into these vehicles
and headed north. About halfway between Albany and the Canadian border
we started running into snow covered ground and pretty soon deep snow covered
ground with trees covered in ice. Pretty soon these ice covered tree's
were bending over and eventually they were all laying on the ground.
We pulled into a rest area and looked at some of these trees and they literally
had 3-4" of ice surrounding their branches.
As we got off the interstate and headed
west we ran into many many electric utility trucks putting up poles and
re-stringing wires. Poles were snapped right off at the ground or
halfway up for miles and miles. The damage to the
utility poles was absolutely devastating not to mention the trees both
large and small that were toppled by the weight of the ice.
On arrival to Malone we found a city with
power for the most part. It was eerie to drive through all the towns
and villages and see them in total darkness and dabrie of all the trees
and wires laying in their yards and across the roads. In Malone
the National Guard was busy plowing the streets and clearing the debrie
from the roads. Our unit commander met with the EOC (emergency operations
center) at the city hall and we were taken to a local elementary school
which was to become our residence for the next 7 days. We were delighted
with the facilities as we had a big gym to set up our cots, hot showers,
heat, and a library full of entertainment. We considered ourselves
very fortunate. We spent Monday night getting set up in the
gym with all our necessary supplies.
On Tuesday two teams were formed (physician,
nurses, emt and a public health nurse from NY ) and sent out to evaluate
the local hospitals, shelters, and fire departments to see what their needs
were.
The area where we where at is a very depressed area economically.
There is no large industry and most income is from dairy farming, farming,
and small businesses. The unemployment rate is very high, yet these
folks are used to harsh winters and typically are very independent folks
so what we found initially were folks who had needs but didn't want to
ask for help. The hospital took any folks who had medical needs that
could not be met at home due to lack of power and or running water and
the hospital became overwhelmed with these folks and couldn't meet the
needs of the acute patients and or surgeries due to a lack beds.
The local nursing homes started taking these
folks from the hospital with medical needs and tried to handle them in
addition to their regular nursing home patients but soon were overwhelmed.
As we went around to these nursing homes we found nursing staff who had
not been home in 4 or 5 days and were extremely fatigued. At the
out lying shelters we found people who in general didn't have as acute
illnesses as the nursing home folks but we did find folks with medical
problems and no one who had medical knowledge to know what they needed.
These were folks who had been living in their homes trying to stay warm
and finally giving up due to lack of fuel or safe conditions and going
to the shelters. All the nursing homes and shelters had ample food
and volunteers willing to cook or bring food but no knowledge or comfort
level in knowing what to do with the ill folks who showed up.
We stopped at a few of the out lying fire
departments and found volunteer fire and bls level emt's who had
been out trying to meet the needs of their community for 5 days straight.
When these firemen were not needed for their everyday emergencies, they
were going door to door checking on their neighbors to make sure they were
OK and that they were properly venting their homes - as most had space
heaters and stoves as their only source of heat while others had fireplaces
and or portable gas generators to supply electricity so they had lights,
hot water and their furnaces could run. The problem with these folks
were that some were afraid of people stealing their generators ( some thefts
were reported where the thief would come right up to the person's house
unplug the generator and take off with it). As a result, there
were some carbon monoxide poisonings and deaths because people were putting
these running generators up inside their enclosed porch and or in one case
- in their basement so they wouldn't be stolen - the end result were
deaths and many many carbon monoxide poisonings. The fire departments also
lacked carbon monoxide detection equipment so when they did their house
to house checks they could not check for the
monoxide levels and could only give safety instructions
and send folks to the hospital if they complained of the slightest symptoms.
After our needs assessment that day
our team commander dispatched staff out to the various nursing homes and
some of the shelters. We started and maintained a roving medical
team that went out and visited all of the shelters and fire houses to check
on the folks. Many types of problems were detected such as people
having an active heart attack, many carbon monoxide victims, congestive
heart failure, and hypothermia victims.
The hospital also experienced an outbreak
of illnesses in the staff and our team help staff the emergency rooms,
med surg floors, and ICU's. We also had a pharmacist and a dentist
on our team. The pharmacist jumped in and helped the pharmacy while
the dentist set up shop and pulled many teeth in the clinic - including
that of a Michigan DMAT team member - so all of us were kept busy.
The Michigan Team members that were staying with our team consisted of
emt's and they went out to the outlying fire departments and rode in their
ambulances and helped provide advanced life support care to the communities
- a luxury the community didn't have normally.
As the week progressed more and more
of the outlying communities were getting their electricity turned on and
folks were were able to go back to their homes. The NY public health
department was also able to muster up nurses to come and and take care
of some of the shelter patients
that remained.
On Saturday a few Oklahoma and some
Florida DMAT team members arrived to help continue the care to those shelters
and fire departments in
need.
On Sunday afternoon we were deactivated
and drove back to Albany. We had a nice warm soft bed to sleep in
Sunday night and arrived herein Cincinnati today at 3:30pm. The people
that we met all throughout NY thanked us for coming to the aid of their
community and state. There were many people who touched our hearts with
their needs and their thanks - that alone made it all
worth doing.
The hardest part of this trip was to learn
of a tragedy unfolding in my own community that occurred only hours after
I left Cincinnati airport on Monday morning January 12th. When I
arrived in Albany, NY, I called back to Dayton to tell them of our
progress and it was then that I learned that a terrible accident had taken
place in Washington Twp that took the life of one of our fellow firemen
and police. Another fireman is in the hospital struggling for his life.
As I heard this tragedy unfold I wanted to come back and grieve with my
fellow department friends and their families over this tragic loss but
I couldn't - that had to be the hardest part of this whole trip.
My heart goes out to their families and loved ones and to my department
as we struggle with this tragic loss.
Updated 1/15/1998
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