MEMORANDUM
TO: All members of the UNC Health Care community
FROM: Brian P. Goldstein, MD, MBA
DATE: September 7, 2005
SUBJECT: UNC Health Care participation in hurricane Katrina
relief effort
On behalf of the entire Health Care System leadership, I wish
to thank the many of you who have expressed a willingness to
volunteer time and effort on behalf of individuals impacted by
hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.
This email summarizes two specific options for you to volunteer
to be a part of a coordinated and UNC-sponsored relief effort.
Details on how to sign up are below. We are fortunate to have
here outstanding trauma and disaster preparedness programs; the
leaders of those programs are already coordinating our employees'
participation in relief operations, and will continue to do so.
UNCHCS has committed to actively support two distinct and independent
relief operations:
1. State Medical Assistance Team II deployed to Waveland, Mississippi.
The State Medical Assistance Team (SMAT) program was created in NC after 9/11/2001.
These SMAT teams, one for each of eight regions across the state (corresponding
to regions for the state trauma system) were originally conceived to respond
to disasters within the state of North Carolina. The federal government requested
that SMAT teams be deployed in the Gulf region to assist victims of Hurricane
Katrina. Our SMAT team was paired with a mobile field hospital based in Charlotte
--called Med One-- to establish a 110-bed temporary facility in Waveland,
Mississippi. Many of you have seen other emails, and other media reports,
describing the work of this relief operation. Six individuals from UNC are
a part of the initial contingent of volunteers setting up and operating this
field hospital. For more information, see the Weblog established by UNC Hospitals
to receive information from the team in the field, http://www.unchospitals.blogspot.com/
It is expected that this field hospital will continue to operate
for at least several weeks. Meanwhile, we intend that no individual
volunteer stay for more than a two-week period. Thus we anticipate
a need to rotate additional UNC volunteers into this site at
discrete intervals over the next several weeks. The next deployment
is tentatively scheduled to depart on Friday, September 9. That
deployment is already full, but we expect there will be additional
deployments in the coming weeks. If you wish to volunteer for
a future deployment to this SMAT site, please go to http://www.midcarolinatraumarac.com ,
then click on "Volunteer information page", and fill out the
requested information. Chris Ogden, UNC Hospitals Trauma Program
Manager, or her designee will contact you to discuss details.
At this time we do not know for certain which types of healthcare
professionals will be in the greatest demand over the coming
weeks. We expect that the team will continue to need at least
a few physicians for each deployment. We also anticipate a need
for nurses with an emergency medicine background and/or military
experience. Nurses with pediatric, ICU, medical, OR, and psychiatric
experience may also be needed. The site may also request pharmacists,
respiratory therapists, other mental health professionals, or
other healthcare practitioners. If you are interested, the best
thing to do right now is to provide the information at the above-listed
website and await feedback as to whether individuals with your
particular background are being sought. You must also notify
your supervisor/department that you have volunteered. Employees
who are released for volunteer service by their supervisor will
receive their usual compensation, benefits, and professional
liability coverage during deployment.
2. National Institutes of Health Federal Medical Shelter (field
hospital) in Meridian, Mississippi.
The Federal Department of Health and Human Services, in the immediate aftermath
of Hurricane Katrina, enlisted the help of the National Institutes of Health
(NIH) and the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) to speed clinical
resources to hurricane-ravaged areas. Among other activities, NIH has established
a field hospital at Key Field Air National Guard Station in Meridian, Mississippi.
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), a branch of
NIH, took the lead in helping to mobilize clinical teams for this specific
field hospital. Because of NIEHS's Triangle location, Duke and UNC have been
called upon early to recruit clinicians to staff this field facility. Along
with many individuals from NIH in Bethesda, at least 41 individuals from Duke
are already a part of the initial deployment to Meridian. Additional Duke personnel
(as well as staff from Johns Hopkins) are scheduled to depart for the site
within the next day or two. Meanwhile, UNC has offered to prepare a second
wave of volunteers to spell this initial cohort in 7-14 days. We expect this
field hospital to be set up initially with upwards of 500 beds, with the capacity
for more. Unfortunately, most other details are still unclear at this time.
Among the things we do not know at this time: a) the types of patients that
will be seen (adult, pediatric, OB, etc.), b) the range of clinical conditions,
c) the patients' severity of illness, d) the mix of true inpatients versus
ambulatory patients, e) the supplies and equipment that will be available,
f) the timing and pace of admissions, g) how long this field hospital will
operate.
If you volunteer to go to this field hospital in Meridian, Mississippi,
we expect you will be asked to stay for approximately 14 days.
We do not yet have an exact departure date for the (first) UNC
contingent but we expect it would be sometime between 9/12 & 9/16.
It is possible that UNC will be asked to provide staff in subsequent
weeks, perhaps in alternating fashion with Duke. If you are willing
to volunteer for this effort, please go to www.midcarolinatraumarac.com,
then click on "Volunteer information page", and fill out the
requested information. (NOTE: this web page was designed for
the SMAT program. We have modified the application to cover both
programs). You must notify your supervisor/department that you
have volunteered. Employees who are released for volunteer service
by their supervisor will receive their usual compensation, benefits,
and professional liability coverage during deployment. As we
gain more information about what types of practitioners are needed,
and when, we will contact each volunteer. There could be a need
for doctors, nurses, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, mental
health professionals, and/or other practitioners.
If you are a resident physician and wish to volunteer for either
activity, please fill out the information at the website and
make sure to indicate your year of residency training your specialty.
At this time we do not know whether resident physicians will
be permitted to participate.
I appreciate your patience as we try to get more detailed information
about these opportunities. We will try to communicate as often
and as concisely as possible. Thank you again for your willingness
to consider helping those in need.
A final note: According to the AAMC, roughly 40 medical facilities
have been established in the affected areas of the Gulf. As the
next several days unfold, we will work to understand how these
sites' sponsors are coordinating their efforts. If you receive
detailed information from colleagues, or from national organizations,
about other sites, please forward the information to Jennifer
Lord at jennifer_lord@med.unc.edu.
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