The MRC monitor, summer 2006

              After decades dealing with horrendous tornadoes that kill dozens across the Heartland every year, Oklahomans faced a new menace from Mother Nature in 2005. Back-to-back Hurricanes Katrina and Rita resulted in an urgent call to action both on-site in the Gulf Coast and here at home as an onslaught of evacuees relocated to Oklahoma. Among the nation’s only completely credentialed and background-checked MRC units, the Medical Reserve Corps of Oklahoma immediately stepped up as Rob Tosatto, National Director of MRC in the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General, personally hand-picked Oklahoma first to help in Louisiana (please see Richard H. Carmona’s letter of appreciation on page two).
More than 650 volunteers, divided between operations in Oklahoma and missions in Baton Rouge and Alexandria, devoted their talents and time when it was needed most. MRC volunteers spent an average of 14 days—and some as long as two months away—working in a special needs shelter and providing direct patient care. Physicians, nurses, aides, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, mental health professionals, clergy and hundreds of critical support staff responded. They dedicated 12,000 hours in service, a value of $337,000, according to former MRC administrator Lisa Pearson, who pioneered the MRC project 18 months ago as its first coordinator.
“Oklahoma’s MRC response to these hurricanes validated the need and provided credibility that the process works—volunteers from all walks of life are ready, willing and able to give of their time and themselves, to go above and beyond to help out people in the most dire straits,” Pearson explained. “It’s very inspirational to see such unwavering commitment to give so selflessly, working together under the most difficult circumstances imaginable.”
Suffocating, oppressive heat. No running water or electricity for days. Conditions were most challenging, according to Oklahoma infectious disease specialist Dr. Dan Fieker. An MRC volunteer for just 60 days when the disaster hit, he served two months as director of clinical services overseeing 21 volunteer personnel supporting triage efforts in a field hospital of evacuees from New Orleans. A second hospital opened on England AFB after Rita hit. Patient load swelled from 50 to more than 300 in just three days. Volunteers worked to screen for conditions, ailments and necessary medications, assessing and treating individuals with everything from heart failure and arrhythmias to cancers and psychiatric conditions as well as renal failure, AIDS and a wide variety of injuries.
“The patient population mirrored what you would find in an acute care hospital in any large city,” he said, noting that so much rainfall from Katrina flooded generators that maintained power and water pressure. In water supplies alone, patients required 900 liters per day, which was provided by the National Institutes of Health in semi-trucks. The National Guard helped with pre-packaged foods and replacement generators to keep lights and equipment running while the FDA and the area’s Cabrini Hospital System prepared food for patients. A veteran of the Oklahoma State Board of Health who first learned about MRC in the post 9-11 terrorist attack era, Dr. Fieker said these crucial cooperative efforts kept patients and staff functioning, and helped avoid additional loss of life.
“The Oklahoma MRC continually maintains an organization and structure of volunteers that can be deployed and instantly operate as a hospital at every level,” Dr. Fieker explained, including techs, therapists, nurses, aides, physicians, assistants and numerous non-medical ancillary services. “I really appreciate this aspect of Oklahoma MRC. We arrived organized and federalized with a streamlined structure in place to deliver emergency medical care. Everyone knew where they were needed, what to do and when to do it. We proved it works.”
That MRC passion spreads—it’s contagious. Volunteers grew from 100 to 1,300 in the nine months prior to Hurricane Katrina, almost doubling to 2,400 in September ’05 after the disasters struck. Today the MRC ranks stand at 3,100.
Pearson credits the phenomenal recruitment expansion to word-of-mouth endorsements from volunteers, emergency management authorities, health departments’ personnel and a pre-Katrina multi-media publicity campaign promoting the perennial importance of emergency preparedness.
“It’s quite gratifying to be able to go and help people in such great need,” said Dr. Fieker. “Doing what needs to be done. And doing it now.”
For more information about volunteering with the MRC, log-on or apply online at www.okmrc.org or call Kendal Darby at
866-336-5672 or 405-297-7055.
TheMonitor
Keeping the Pulse on the Medical Reserve Corps of Oklahoma • Summer 2006
$337,000 Value in 12,000 Dedicated Hours
Volunteers Bring Order to Chaos
Help Thousands of Katrina Casualties
For more information about Emergency Medical Systems Authority, the Oklahoma Medical Reserve Corps or
Regional Medical Response System, call Kendal Darby at 405-297-7055 or Michael Murphy at 405-297-7059.
As every thread of gold is valuable, so is every minute of time. - Mason
PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE
PAID
TULSA, OK
PERMIT No. 709
Oklahoma Medical Reserve Corps
1111 Classen Drive
Oklahoma City, OK 73103
No
act
of
kindness,
no
matter
how
small,
is
ever
wasted.
—
Aesop
1
8
TheMonitor
Your Premiere Issue
of The MRC Monitor
Keeping the Pulse on the Medical Reserve Corps of Oklahoma
In This Summer Edition
Volunteers Help Thousands, Dedicate 12,000 Hours ................................................................................ Cover Story
U.S. Surgeon Generalʼs Letter to the MRC Volunteers ......................................................................................Page 2
Introducing the New Oklahoma MRC State Administrator ................................................................................Page 3
Preparing to Help When It Counts Most—Meet the Team .................................................................................Page 4
Volunteer Appreciation from the Oklahoma Health Department .......................................................................Page 5
Critical Collaboration—Professional Partnerships for Preparedness .................................................................Page 6
Summer Calendar—July/August Training Schedules to Clip/Post ....................................................................Page 7
Contact EMSA, the Oklahoma MRC and the RMRS .........................................................................................Page 8