President's Page

President's Page
October 2005

DCMS Physicians Team Up to Help Katrina Evacuees—
Volunteers continue to help those in need

by Leslie H. Secrest, MD
2005 DCMS President

Little did we know how much Hurricane Katrina would affect us as it developed into a Category 5 hurricane and took aim at New Orleans and the Mississippi coast. What followed occurred in waves of people and activities. First came all the people who could leave the area by car or by air to stay with friends, relatives, or in hotels. Next came those who could get here with their own transportation but had nowhere to stay. Dallas responded by opening Reunion Arena. The medical needs of these first 500 people were easily met by using Dallas County resources of Parkland Hospital and the Dallas County Health Department. Next the wave of buses came, requiring the opening of the Dallas Convention Center. With the announcement that evacuees would be bussed to Dallas, it became clear that a much larger and more diverse medical team would be required.

Dallas County Medical Society began mobilizing its membership less than 48 hours after Hurricane Katrina made landfall. When Reunion Arena was designated as an evacuation site, the DCMS leadership met with David Buhner, MD, medical director of the Dallas County Health Department, to offer assistance. With the opening of the convention center, the medical society’s assistance clearly was needed. This initiated a public and private medical cooperative never previously assembled and activated. Within minutes, the flow of physician volunteers began and quickly numbered 1000. DCMS staff worked with the Dallas County Medical Reserve Corps to schedule these physicians for shifts at the main shelters.

Ron Anderson, MD, Parkland Hospital CEO, designated Ray Fowler, MD, to lead the deployment and operation of its resources and Dr Buhner designated the county’s chief epidemiologist, John Carlo, MD, to lead the deployment of the county Health Department resources. These two physicians teamed up to create an emergency department that started with only the cement floor of the convention center’s enclosed garage. Cloth walls were hung to accommodate the clinical areas, from primary care to pediatrics to surgery to obstetrics and gynecology to behavioral health. Soon, physicians arrived, who, Dr Fowler pointed out, “checked their egos at the door and provided their expertise.” Unexpectedly, Tom Noble, vice president of support services at Methodist, arrived and developed a schedule for personnel to staff this emergency department, and suddenly there was an orderly flow of physicians, nurses, and all the other personnel who are necessary to make an emergency department operational 24 hours a day.

The convention center emergency department soon was having more patient visits in 24 hours than typically would be seen at the Parkland Emergency Department. People were able to get their medications filled at the convention center, thanks to the opening of pharmacy services by Walgreens and CVS. The effectiveness of the team of volunteers and Parkland staff kept local emergency departments from being overwhelmed by the evacuees’ medical needs. An outbreak of diarrhea was quickly recognized and contained. A number of patients seriously ill were stabilized and transported to area hospitals, as yet without a single mortality.

With the closing of the convention center and Reunion Arena as emergency shelters, a new phase for supplying medical care to a population that is now distributed throughout Dallas County is required. The public sector and private volunteers will need to continue to work together to provide care so as not to overwhelm our acute care facilities. It seems that creation of a Project Katrina is what is required to meet this temporary need. This would take the organizational processes and the electronic capabilities of Project Access Dallas and develop a new volunteer force of physicians to manage the medical needs of Katrina evacuees. As time goes on, the type of care needed may be increasingly emotional, requiring primary care physicians, psychiatrists, and allied behavioral health providers.

Dallas’ ability to effectively and efficiently combine the medical skills and resources in public and private settings makes us proud to be physicians, to be DCMS members, and to be residents of Dallas County. The ability is based on the support and sustainment of our community’s public institutions, such as the Dallas County Health Department, Parkland Hospital, and UT Southwestern, which step forward and provide leadership and coordinate public and private resources to serve its residents.
Thanks again to the members and staff of the Dallas County Medical Society.

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