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Air Force Reserve unit helps create disaster plan

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Collen McGee
  • 433rd Airlift Wing
LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  People along the Gulf Coast are thinking more about hurricane season after Katrina and weather service warnings about a more severe season possible in 2006.

News coverage ranges from preparedness articles in the newspapers to television talk show segments about weather anxiety. All are based on experience.

Those in a position to respond are no different. A preemptive response plan, using the experience of those in the lead of the last response is in the works. The goal of U.S. Northern Command, Federal Emergency Management Agency and the states at risk, is to identify all civilian and government capabilities and the best way to get them into play quickly and effectively. Even though Lackland's 433rd Airlift Wing led the aeromedical response last year, the Air Force Reserve Command unit won't automatically do it when the next hurricane hits the Gulf Coast.

"We're not sorcing, we are just stating the mission' s probable requirements," said Chief Master Sgt. Rodney Christa, readiness manager for the 433rd Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron. "It may be a State National Guard mission."

No matter who gets the mission, mission planning still needs facts.

Chief Christa was part of a team that spent time along the Gulf Coast performing site surveys at various airfields evaluating all the parameters that could affect any future evacuation effort.

The state has the lead and the Department of Defense will respond if assistance is requested by the state.

One focus of the group was to provide civilian partners a realistic view of the time frame needed to place DOD aeromedical evacuation support structure in place.

"Air Force AE planning is based on assumptions and it can be fluid," said Chief Christa. "The number one assumption is that this is a priority for the Department of Defense once federal support is requested."

The next assumption is that the best results are achieved when patient evacuation is accomplished before a storm.

Beaumont, Texas, not New Orleans, was an example of a successful preemptive evacuation, said Senior Master Sgt. Rob Rodriguez. Two weeks after Hurricane Katrina and hours before Hurricane Rita swept into town, Beaumont residents who needed to be evacuated were evacuated. Sergeant Rodriguez knows about getting off the ground in a hurry; he is the unit deployment manager.

The plan isn't to evacuate just anyone. It focuses on those who cannot evacuate themselves such as hospital and nursing home patients. Last year's experience helped bring the plan together quickly. The initial proposal was assembled in four days and details were added during daily reviews.

Some key recommendations address the following areas:

-- Alternate ways to communicate

-- Patient and medical record tracking

-- Coordination with established civilian and DOD agencies

"We have enough knowledge now on the Louisiana coast," said Chief Christa, "The capabilities are known; it's a matter of plugging them in."

But the best plan on paper won't work if there isn't some communication between agencies before an emergency happens.

It's important to know what capabilities, and what level of support may be needed and to know it as early as possible.

One determining factor in the level of support is how many are in nursing homes, hospice and Home Health Care patients who might need evacuation.

"Once aeromedical evacuation gets that number we can figure out how long it would take to evacuate and how long we need to be in place before the storm hits," said Chief Christa.

Getting the number is the easy part, setting patient priority can be the difficulty if not determined in advance.

"There are differences in how the civilian medical community and the DOD medical community prioritize patient movement," said Chief Christa. "Civilians move the sickest first. For the military it is the opposite."

Chief Christa and Sergeant Rodriguez pointed out resources make patient triage differ for each. For military medical teams operating in a wartime environment, there are forward operating hospitals capable of advanced care. In a disaster relief operation, hospitals are being emptied and closed for an undetermined amount of time. Medical care facilities may not be available after a hurricane.

"We learned from the last round of evacuations out of New Orleans, that the civilian model of triage doesn't take into consideration those on dialysis requiring regular treatments," said Chief Christa. "By the time those evaluated as needing immediate treatment were moved, we found at the end of the line there were dialysis patients DOD would have moved earlier."

A hybrid triage plan would take those patients into consideration and get them moved before their condition deteriorates, according to the chief.

Although the final version of the evacuation plan is not complete, the 433rd AES does have a few new tools ready.

"One chink in our armor was equipment," said Chief Christa. "Our equipment is streamlined, (to meet our wartime mission) there are no old cancer patients in Baghdad."

The chief was referring to the fact that most military patients are between the ages of 18-40 and fairly healthy prior to being wounded or getting ill. The general population they saw in New Orleans included babies, long-term illnesses and geriatric patients. Discussions are taking place regarding how to support this unique homeland mission and the special needs of its evacuees.

"We'd never faced anything like this before. When we go to war, we know what to expect, but walking into that airport (last year) ..." said Sergeant Rodriguez.

Those past surprises are now expectations, or at the very least, planning assumptions. In addition to pre-emptive planning, DOD partners, according to U.S. Northern Command officials, have made it clear they are available if requested to provide support to civilian authorities. There are expectations of the civilian community this year to have learned lessons from last year's experience, too.

And though the all-encompassing, draft of the new homeland disaster response plan is still in the proposal stages, there is a baseline of information available should another hurricane hit domestic soil before the plan is complete.

Not only is there more experience available to draw from, but members of the 433rd AES has some new equipment packages ready should they have to assist in humanitarian relief efforts during the current hurricane season.

"The new equipment package for humanitarian relief includes things like diapers, bottles and geriatric care items," said Sergeant Rodriguez. "The equipment is there."

The 433rd was a key player in last year's response and stands ready to support again this year. With the active involvement of the unit in regional hurricane preparation plans and individual experience from 2005, the unit and the DOD are ready if needed. Not only are they more prepared to handle hurricane response, but the planning and experience readily transfers to other types of emergencies on U.S. soil. (AFRC News Service)