He has been an EMT for 11 years and is a volunteer member of the Hewlett Fire Department. He also has experience working 911 in both Queens and the Bronx. During the summer, he uses his EMT skills as a lifeguard at Jones Beach for the past 11 years.
Originally, I had no intentions of going to D.C. for the inauguration. I was very excited to witness world history in the making, but I never had intentions of being there. I knew it was going to be freezing outside, and I thought watching the TV in the warm high school on Tuesday, the 20th, would do the trick just fine!
It was Friday night, Jan. 15, and I had just finished coaching a swim meet at Hewlett High School. It was then that my phone rang and I got the call that I was being deployed to Washington, D.C., with the Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) early Saturday morning. Less then eight hours later, I was on a plane.
For those of you wondering what DMAT is, let me explain. The Disaster Medical Assistance Team under which is part of the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) is a federally coordinated system that augments the nation's emergency medical response capability. The overall purpose of NDMS is to establish a single integrated national medical response capability for assisting state and local authorities in dealing with the medical and health effects of natural disasters, technological disasters, major transportation accidents and terrorist acts involving Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). NDMS, through the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS), fosters the development of volunteer teams, called DMAT's. That's where I came in.
So with only a few hours notice, I had my bags packed and was on my way to Washington. Our teams rendezvous point was in Rockville, Md., just about 25 minutes from Washington, D.C. Once there, our team commander explained to us what our "mission" was for the deployment.
Record-breaking crowds approximating over 2 million people were expected. As with any large crowd, there are always certain things that you'll need to be concerned about. Just being a numbers game, the amount of people present and their medical problems, you need to be able to access and treat patients for seizures, heart attacks and every day problems that could occur at any time. Another concern was the frigid temperatures. Hypothermia and frostbite could potentially be a problem, if people were exposed to such cold temperatures without being dressed properly. Mass stampedes and the potential for a terrorist attack were also high. In the event that any of these things went down, all of the DMAT medical teams as well as the United States Public Health Service working the 2009 Inauguration were ready.
In the days leading up to the inauguration, my team set up field hospitals in tents and multiple buildings in many areas across D.C. In the event of an over flow of patients or an MCI (Mass Casualty Incident), the local hospitals and medical infrastructure would not be able to handle the amounts of patients needing treatment; they would be driven by ambulance, walked or flown to our federal medical stations. The DMAT shelter emergency rooms/operating rooms are fully equipped to handle any type of medical problem. We are fully staffed with EMTs, medics, doctors, nurses and surgeons.
The days leading up to the inauguration we spent setting up our treatment areas. We had combined PowerPoint lectures with the United States Public Health Service on dealing with mass stampedes, anthrax or other bio-chemical attacks, blunt trauma from explosives and cold weather related injuries. We set up every thing up as if it we were 100 percent ready to use it, with hopes we wouldn't have to see one patient.
If you think about it, it's a pretty cool system. Fail to plan, plan to fail. Better to be safe then sorry. I think it was a great idea for us to be ready to treat thousands of people as opposed to something happening and not being able to accommodate such large crowds. DMAT teams were flown in from all across the country. I personally worked with many DMAT members from Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania and California.
It was really an honor to be able to be at the inauguration in person. The vibe that was in the air was just so amazing. It was one of those days when you really feel so great to be an American. The crowd was peaceful, and everyone was just so happy to witness history in the making. I am really happy I was able to be part of such an historical day. In the end, thankfully our services were not really needed. There were plenty of people who suffered the everyday medical problems and were treated and released, however, no bombs, no stampedes and no terrorism. In the end, everyone went home safely and it was my pleasure to be a part of such an amazing event.
