Center [SMOC], which allows us to sup- port TDEM and our regional and local response partners. By coordinating with them, we can provide resources needed to support the health and medical needs of people during and after a disaster,” said DSHS Assistant Press Officer Chris Van Deusen.
DSHS activated the SMOC following
the explosion and worked closely with emergency management staff to respond to medical needs and to help with recov- ery. Specifically, DSHS deployed a large mobile medical unit to care for patients and responders and a two-person medi- cal incident support team to help coor- dinate EMS functions. The department provided mortuary assistance via two morgue trailers and a four-person team from the Texas Funeral Directors Asso- ciation. About 25 DSHS staff members provided help on site and from regional and Austin health department offices. The department sent to the area a di- saster behavioral health response coordi- nator who provided stress management counseling and emotional support for disaster workers, first responders, and survivors. DSHS receives federal preparedness funding awarded through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR). As Mr. Van Deusen explains, most
of the funding for preparedness comes from two federal grants: Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP), ad- ministered by CDC, and the Hospital Pre- paredness Program (HPP), administered by ASPR. State and local public health departments receive PHEP funds to en- hance their ability to respond to public health threats and disasters. Health care systems, such as hospi- tals, EMS, long-term care facilities, and nursing homes, receive HPP funds for preparedness planning, improving the ability of public and private entities to work together in an emergency, and strengthening the health care system’s preparedness and response infrastruc- ture. HPP funds help enhance hospital surge capacity to serve more patients
in an emergency or epidemic. Together, the PHEP and HPP grants for 2013 are $63.8 million, with more than $47 mil- lion funding local and regional prepared- ness and response efforts. Local and re- gional health departments and health systems received about 77 percent of the PHEP award and 78 percent of the HPP award this year. At press time, the legislature hadn’t
finalized the 2014–15 state budget. Mr. Van Deusen says state budget proposals contained a provision to allocate an ad- ditional $5 million in state funds to pre- paredness activities.
Emily Kidd, MD, is project direc- tor for the Texas Disaster Medical Sys- tem (TDMS), a statewide collaboration among DSHS and public health and acute medicine professionals to improve
West physician helped save lives
George Smith, DO, West emergency medical service (EMS) director, helped save 127 West Rest Haven nursing home residents by coordinating their removal from rooms near the fertilizer plant before it exploded. Dr. Smith, the nursing home’s medical director, suffered cuts on his face and back when the ceiling fell in on him. He and other first responders organized rescue groups and treated the injured all through the night. One elderly nursing home resident died of a heart attack
after being evacuated from the facility. “We were fortunate there weren’t more fatalities,” Dr. Smith
said. He said the blast knocked out ambulance radio and cell
phone communication, so he used a satellite radio in a helicop- ter to tell the EMS dispatcher to send medical help. Because EMS personnel couldn’t talk to one another, they had to rely on their training. “It’s important for medical professionals and first responders
to know prior to a disaster how they should function if lines of communication get knocked out. It frustrated me that I couldn’t talk to my ambulance drivers to give them guidance. Luckily, they knew what to do,” Dr. Smith said. Dr. Smith has practiced in West for 38 years and lives only
250 yards from the site of the explosion, which destroyed his home. Helping his long-time friends and neighbors in the after- math of the explosion meant the world to him. “That’s what I’m trained to do. I’m the acting medical com- mander of the Disaster Medical Assistance Team, and I helped after hurricanes Katrina and Ike. I’ve now been on the giving and receiving end of disaster response,” he said.
July 2013 TEXAS MEDICINE 43
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