One Great Solution For Improving Healthcare Preparedness

Our nation faces two interesting challenges whenpossible practice model.
it comes to the healthcare response to disasters.Expanding the services offered by DMAT teams
The first is that according to an Institute ofto their surrounding communities would also serve
Medicine report published in June 2006, hospitalsthe objectives of the federal government by
have by and large failed to meet even the mostproviding an opportunity for DMAT teams to hold
basic standards for disaster preparedness. InField Training Exercises (FTX's) and to network
other words, they have failed to develop thewith healthcare assets in the surrounding
relationships within their own communities, ignoringcommunities. NDMS has sought for years to
even EMS and community-wide Emergencydevelop a network of participating hospitals who
Response Services thus failing to integrate thesewould accept patients from distant field disaster
critical services into the hospital disaster plan.sites transported by military or other assets and
Further, most hospitals, now six years after 9/11,requiring hospitalization outside of the disaster
still fail to provide basic disaster response trainingzone.
to all of their employees. Basic Incident CommandThe average hospital will spend between $90,000
training that would allow their employees and care- 180,000 per year in the coming decade just for
providers to integrate themselves into thedisaster drills and training, and this does not include
community wide response, while required bythe cost of paying employees to participate in
federal guidelines, is still reserved for members ofthose drills and training opportunities. Participation in
the administrative team. Most hospitals have evenfederally sponsored federally funded, DMAT based
failed to hold or participate in community-widedisaster training and exercises would represent a
Disaster Drills despite a four year old mandate forsignificant inducement to hospitals to join the
these drill each year. Although reasons cited byNDMS hospital system and a significant benefit to
hospitals for their failure are many, they are alsoNDMS member hospitals.
largely invalid. Requirements have existed for suchState medical response teams, known under
Community-Wide Disaster Drill since 2003 andvarious names in various locations, could provide a
since 2002, the federal government had paid forsimilar opportunity for the state to both build
or provided free of charge the educationalrelationships between their teams and their
opportunities for hospital employees. Unfortunatelycommunities as well as improve the operational
now, most of that federal funding has ended, theefficiency of teams through exercises and
five-year grants have expired.education.
There is however one opportunity for the federalConceivably, even Medical Reserve Core units
government to use existing assets, augmented(MRC) could participate by providing local
by existing state government assets, to provideleadership and coordination efforts for their
not only training but disaster drill opportunities tohospitals and communities as the MRC provides
hospitals and other portions of healthcare. Thethe earliest possible disaster response, providing
Natural Disaster Medical System (NDMS) hasfor healthcare needs in those initials hours after an
within its ranks Disaster Medical Assistance Teamsevent.
(DMAT) who are trained in all aspects of incidentsCertainly, there will be the challenges of
command, disaster vulnerability analysis, disasterCongressional funding and special interest groups
planning, disaster response, and disaster recovery.claiming that the federal government is subsidizing
Individuals who make up DMAT teams are civilianprograms that benefit for profit hospitals. More
healthcare professionals who, when not deployedimportantly however, a program such as this
by our federal government, function as unpaidwould ensure that our healthcare infrastructure
reservers, part-time federal employees onwas maximally prepared for the next Hurricane
stand-by status, receiving no pay while remainingKatrina, for the next Oakridge earthquake, for
on call and ready to deploy within two hours inthe next Americas Georgia tornados, for the next
the event of national disaster or terrorism.great river flood. NDMS member hospitals
DMAT teams represents the perfect opportunitydeserve to receive some benefit for becoming an
for federal government to utilize an asset alreadyNDMS hospital and assuming the additional
in the federal budget to provide not only trainingresponsibilities that come, uncompensated, with
to hospitals in the communities surrounding aagreeing to participate in America's disaster
DMAT team, but community wide, externallyhealthcare response system. Using DMAT teams
designed and graded disaster drills that wouldto train, drill and evaluate America's healthcare
include not only the hospitals but fire rescue, lawinfrastructure will ensure that the survivors of
enforcement, local county and even statedisaster receive the best healthcare available while
emergency operations integrated with state andthe rest of us rest assured that our community's
federal disaster response assets in coordinatedhealthcare is truly prepared if the disaster comes
community-wide drills. In other words, the bestto our doorstep.