Emergency Management - National Disaster Medical System

I write this in hopes those in areas without the resources to run a mock medical exercise can learn a few lessons from my experience at this one.
I was a volunteer mock victim at a Baltimore Federal Coordination Center (FCC) under the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) sponsored a full-scale exercise at BWI Airport on 12 May 2012.
This exercise was different because it was focused on medical evacuation and treatment.
The full exercise plan is at the bottom of this blog entry, but here is a synopsis:
"Purpose: The purpose of this exercise is to evaluate the Baltimore NDMS FCC Plan to receive medical evacuees and asses associated player actions against current response plans and training.
Scope: The scope of play for the Baltimore NDMS FSE requires the activation of the Baltimore NDMS FCC and implementation of the Baltimore FCC NDMS Plan through establishing a Unified Command and positioning responders in the field to perform those actions associated with NDMS activation. The scope of play for the Baltimore NDMS FSE requires command and control, communications, on-site incident management, coordination of victim reception, triage, and transport to the Maryland NDMS hospitals.

The Baltimore FCC exercise will be conducted at mid field Cargo Area at 1200 Mathison Way BWI on Saturday May 12th, 2012 in response to a notional earthquake in Kansas City. The exercise is scheduled for 5 hours beginning at 0840 am. It is a critical element in providing the multi-agency training necessary to ensure proficiency of collaboration efforts on the part of all the Patient Reception team members that are required to respond to activation. During the exercise activation response personnel are able to work together to further enhance inter-service knowledge and enhance outside agency familiarization with the National Disaster Medical System.
Goals: 1. Meet the National Disaster Medical System requirement to hold a full-scale exercise every three years. 2. Test the Baltimore Federal Coordination Center Plan. 3. Test the activation, response of patient reception, triage, transport, and tracking of volunteer mock patients."  My takeaways:

• The plan was carried out in a tight, professional, and rigorous manner.
• All players (local, state, federal, medical, transportation, military, airport personal, fire and ambulance companies) knew their roles and played them well.
• The medical team I met at the Sinai Hospital was confident, knowledgeable, courteous, and fast.
• I'm confident that if muslim terrorists, natural disasters, hurricanes, tornadoes, or any of the other hundreds of events that make up the American threat matrix hit, these professionals will handle it competently, professionally, courteously, and quickly.

My cousin, a homicide detective in Philadelphia, once told me: "People say detectives are heroes. We're not the heroes. The real heroes are those doctors, nurses and staff who work in emergency rooms where I visit to interview witnesses. THEY'RE heroes."
From what I saw of the medical personnel at Mt. Sinai Hospital, he's right. They were good, very good, at what they did examining us as patients and processing us into their world.
Another part of those medical heroes who deserves mention is the ambulance corps. In my case, the Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) transporting me came all the way from Waldorf.
We got chatting on the drive to the hospital and I mentioned Life360 as a great emergency tool to notify family. The younger [far left in the photo] EMT already had it on her cell phone. The older EMT did not, but here is the discussion we had that is worth repeating.
Me: "So what do you do when you are not an EMT?"
Him: "I'm the Inspector General for the Air Force?" [He's the guy with the yellow jacket with EMS on it and the intense stare.]
Me: "Oh. You mean you work in the office of the Air Force Inspector General?"
Him: "No. I run the Air Force Office of the Inspector General."
I swallowed hard.
An aside: When I was in the USAF, the Inspector General was higher than a general in that he had more power because he could go into any office, any time, and demand answers that had to be given whether you were a  basic airman or a 4-star general. This guy is heavy duty, and he works an ambulance on the side. That's why I love these emergency exercises. Like being in the military, it is one of the few ways you can meet great people who are selfless and sacrifice that you would never get to know otherwise.
The coordinator gave everyone a card with a phone number to call if we got lost. I thought that was funny until we were driving all over Baltimore trying to find the hospital. That's a good move because in large-scale exercises of this type people can get lost.

The Inspector General: "This month we are changing the designation of Post Trauma Delayed Stress Disorder to Post Trauma Injury. 

What is the difference if you are wounded in the body or the brain? 

Nothing. 

It's not a disorder. 

It's an injury and that's what it should be called."
Me: "That's great. Now all the Hollywood pukes who have created such horrible stereotypes of PTSD vets going on killing rampages might have to change their stereotype...as if."
The Inspector General: "It's long overdue and should go a long way to healing and helping service members and vets."
Me: "I agree completely. I'm a poet. I know the power of one word to change the world and perceptions. I'm really glad you're doing this." 

I pray that this change helps all the service members and vets with Post Trauma Injury get better understanding from civilians, but it will be a long time before it does. Until then, I thank God I was able to participate in this medical emergency mock exercise and stretch my brain and skills once more.

Life360 Keep Your Family Safe

Life360 phone app is a good tool to use to keep your family safe before, during and after an emergency. Protect your fledglings from the dangers out there (see, for example, the red tail hawk on the oak fence in my back yard that often threatens our blue birds).
It does many things, but here are the most important:

• Push the panic button and you can contact your family IMMEDIATELY if you have an emergency.
• The GPS map shows you EXACTLY WHERE your loved ones are so you can find them IMMEDIATELY.

From my emergency management experience, I know that when an event hits, so too does tunnel vision, a racing heart, and delay from trying to process too much information in too short a span of time.
By pre-programming the phone number and email addresses of your loved ones, you can immediately contact and communicate with your loved ones.
Be it a jihadi attack, a tornado, a terrible storm of any other daily event that hits somewhere and eventually picks you...be ready BEFORE it strikes. Download it and keep it handy on your cell phone for when you need it. It is disaster insurance of the first kind.
Robert Scoble's blog post is where I first heard of the Life360 phone app. Scoble's Life360 blog link.

Robert Scoble  -  Mar 3, 2012 (edited)  -  Public

Yesterday we saw horrid scenes of tornado and storm damage from the Midwest in the United States.
But is there a way for you to get warned that one of those is coming? And is there a quick way to let your family know you're OK? Here I sit down with the founders of Life360.
An app that might help you survive a family disasterhttp://www.life360.com/
Here is a good comment on Scoble's original blog post (above) that explains how it works in a very practical way in a tornado.

Rich Dailey Quick comment from the Life360 team (I'm one of the co founders). We definitely don't work 100% of the time...if your phone doesn't get a data connection, our app won't work. 

Our app is built for the 99.9% of time where nothing is wrong, and in those rare emergency instances, we have empirical data to show that we do indeed generally do our job (see this blog post with stats from usage in this recent tornado http://www.life360.com/blog/families-safe-and-in-sync-during-midwest-tornadoes/). 

We aren't a replacement for 911...we are a supplement for the majority of instances when a user can still connect to the web. I'd also add our focus is not just on emergencies but daily value, when connectivity issues are not a problem at all.

Mar 6, 2012   
#disaster #safety #mobile #app #family

An app for disaster preparedness for your family

B Wise with Your Time Poem

I wrote this poem about Herman Samuel "B" Beck, Jr., of Mount Airy, MD to honor his remarkable contributions to the town and read it at the dedication of the clock on Town Hall to honor him.

Here I read the poem at the ceremony. 

“B” Wise with Your Time

 (for Herman Samuel “B” Beck, Jr.)

There is a clock above Town Hall

Near the old B&O station in Mt. Airy,

Dependable, accurate, useful and true,

Named after Herman Samuel “B” Beck, Jr.

Mr. Beck, author of the Mt. Airy B&O Story,

1936 graduate of Mt. Airy High School,

WWII radioman with the Army Air Corps

In the European Theater of Operations,

“B” columnist of the Mt. Airy News

Of the “Way We Were” column,

Member of the Mt. Airy Town Council,

Manager Coach of the Mt. Airy Little League,

Promoted citizenship as a Member, President

   And District Governor of the Lions.

All this and more he did

While also being a good provider,

Loving husband, father and grandfather.

He knew something of the importance

Of time and how it must be used.

This clock, now named for him,

Will continue to contribute

To the Citizens of Mt. Airy

As he did in a life of service

To us here below, while he smiles

Conducting a timeless train above.

His clock points to us to let us know

We can join him sometime later

After it has turned all its earthly spins.

When you look at this clock,

Remember what it says:

For this is the Mt. Airy

Herman Samuel “B” Beck, Jr. clock,

It tells MORE than time.

Like him, it says:

“B” wise, and use your time

As wisely as I did

When I was a Citizen of Mt. Airy.”

Bruce Curley
January 29, 2012

Poem on YouTube

It Was Nothing Poem, Our House Fire

Here are a few photos of the house fire we went through in 2003, along with a poem I wrote that captures some of it ten years later.
I include some photos of the rebuilt house and us in it.
"It will get better." some told us after the event. 

And it has.

It Was Nothing

“It was nothing”

Said my six-year old

In a Thank You card

To his first-grade class

I discover a decade later

Among family heirlooms.

Except that it was something.

It was a housefire

That but for seconds
Almost took his life,

And my life

And the life of his older brother
And burned my wife

Severely enough

That she was medivaced

To a burn unit at Johns Hopkins.

“Thanks for all those cards!

Everything is okay!

I bought all new clothes

And my mom is okay.

All of my drawings are okay

And none have been thrown away.”

He continues in bravado that wins wars.

He does not know

That day after day

I sifted through the flotsam

And the muck of oil, ash, plastic,

Wire and paste to separate out

She had signed herself out

Of the burn unit early

To be able to see her older son

Graduate high school and I had to learn

To be the attending nurse in minutes.

What was worth preserving

And what had to go to the dump.

Because it was ruined beyond saving:

Photos of family events, clothes,

Furniture, electronics, poems,

And even his pictures

He drew with such beauty

That now stunk

And were smeared with ash.

He does not know

That I wailed like a baby

When first driving from the hospital

After seeing his mother hours after the fire

When the full effect of her burns

Displayed on her face and arms

And I did not fully recognize

My own wife

And after having just spent the day

Dealing with media wolves,

Insurance men, constructors,

Notifying family and friends,

And dragging my guns, ammo, computers

And family photos from the house

After a volunteer firefighter

Allowed me to break

The back French door

To get what few possessions were left

From the rage of the fireball

That ripped through the house that day.

He does not know the odor

Of his mother’s flesh wounds

When I removed her old dressings

With the puss and blood and weeping,

And wrapped the new dressing

Because, core of iron and flower,

He does not know

That even today I kiss and caress

His mother’s scar tissue tenderly

At times and remember

The fact that I almost lost her

In the fireball that turned 

Like a yellow, blue, purple, white

Demon from acrid hell

That couldn’t be real, but was,

And was really THERE...

Insidious, hateful, violent, hot, vicious,

Trying the steal the life

Of my wife and children in minutes

As I had to think and race

To free them from its death-dealing power.

“Thanks for everything”

He concludes his note.

“Thanks for everything”

I repeat, and fall to my knees

And plead with God,

The Trinity, the Angels, the Saints,

And anyone else, human or divine,

Who saved our futures that day.

“Thanks for everything,

Even if I never said it that day.”

December 30, 2011

 

In some ways, I've known about the power of fire all my life.

My dad's cousin, a Philadelphia firefighter, was killed in a South Philadelphia refinery fire in the 1960's. 

I remember my mother and father going to his viewing. So I knew from an early age fire was something real, brutal, and deadly.
As a child, we would form groups, now called gangs, in West Oak Lane. We had many initiation rights. One was to dance around with torches on fire. 

That was, at least until my mother saw us. A women of intelligence and patience, she waited until we were out of the Little Lot before she extinguished our torches...and fanned our asses.
Then, she dragged us home almost pulling our arms from our sockets as we resisted because we knew what awaited us: 
The Egg flopper. 
 It normally only turned over pancakes and friend eggs. 
This night it was used to discipline us until our hinnies were sore and red.
That cured  my firebug ways.
She split open my fingernails during that licking, and I vowed never to talk to her again. That lasted a week until, one day when I was out tending the tomato plants in our 10 foot by 10 foot city back yard, she grabbed me, shook me, and said, 
"Talk to me! I'm home alone with you all day and you don't speak to me. Talk to me!
So I said, "Aren't these tomato plants growing fast?"
To which she answered, "Yes. Now imagine how it is for me to see you guys grow up so fast!"
And then we were off gabbing and cutting up like always.
She was the first person I called after my heart stopped racing after our house fire. She was always dependable. I knew she would call everyone in my large family and I could concentrate on getting things done that needed to be done to restore our "normal" life.
And, when 16-years old and raising an aluminum ladder while painting a house, an arc of electricity jumped from Philadelphia Electric utility line to the ladder. 
Tens of thousands of volts went from the line, through the ladder, and out the ground...which was on fire with electrical current.
I was pulling a rope to raise the ladder and was knocked back. Jimmy Ozga, a freshman college football player, died instantly as the current went through his heart. 
The owner of the house painting company had his feet burned off.
So I've seen what fire and hot current can do.
I've learned to respect its power.