POLICIES & PROCEDURES: A Policies & Procedures manual will be established and placed on the website. Some policies that will be specific for the SMC MRC will include:
· All SMC MRC members will be encouraged to complete CERT training within 1 year of membership. This may become a requirement.
· All members will be required to attend at least 1 meeting a year.
· Members that move away or become inactive will return their MRC vests and DSW ID cards to the HMB Police Department.
· All members will be required to sign a Code of Conduct.
CERT TRAINING: CERT training is now recommended for all MRC members. Battalion chief, David Cosgrave of the HMB Fire Department just concluded a CERT class for our SMC MRC members. Photos are attached and on our website. So, 35 of our 52 members are now CERT-trained. Those that still need training can signup online for future CERT classes at the fire departments in HMB, Daly City, Foster City, Redwood City, or Woodside.
SILVER DRAGON III: All SMC MRC members were notified by the Disaster Healthcare Volunteers of California alert system. The bio-terrorism exercise was on Wednesday, March 11th and an Incident Command Post was established at the Colony Club. The drill started with a continental breakfast and then a briefing that was attended by 5 Canada Cove & HMB CERT team members, 14 SMC MRC members, 3 ham-radio operators (ARES – amateur Radio Emergency Service), a San Mateo County communications specialist, Kevin Rose (San Mateo County EMSA observer), Don Okeefe (HMB Police Chief) and several officers, and 4 members of the Coastside (Cal-Fire) Fire Department. In only 1 hour, we reached 850 homes in Ocean Colony & Canada Cove. Overall, 14,000 homes were covered in San Mateo County (the initial goal was 7,000 homes). A debriefing and lunch concluded the exercise. Some minor problems were identified but overall, the exercise was a great success and the San Mateo county Health department was very impressed with our response.
BAY AREA POD EXERCISE: This was a large-scale operation sponsored by the SF and Alameda County Health Departments. Observers were present from the governor’s offices as well as the surgeon general’s office. The Bay Area MRC units used the Oakland Coliseum as a “Point of Distribution” (POD) site for the distribution of antibiotics. SMC MRC members, Michael Klass & Janet Didur, attended an orientation meeting in Oakland and then participated in the drill on March 19th. Although there were some organizational problems, it was a good learning experience.
EDUCATIONAL PRESENTATION: CALIFORNIA - DISASTER MEDICAL ASSIST TEAM (DMAT): Our guest speaker was David Lipin who is the Regional Commander for the California Disaster Medical Assist Team (DMAT). He gave an excellent presentation with nice photographs of DMAT field hospitals. Lots of information can be obtained at their website at dmatca6.org. Some comparisons of the MRC vs DMAT….
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MRC
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DMAT
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Affiliated with the Surgeon General’s Office and USPHS
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Affiliated with the National Disaster Medical system (NDMS) under HHS
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Local organization focused on municipality, city, county, or region
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Federal organization focusing on national disasters
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Short commitment to response
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Longer commitment to response
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Provides manpower to support DMAT, American Red Cross, & other medical facilities and shelters. Does not supply medical equipment.
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Provides manpower and medical supplies; Provides 72-hour self-sustaining medical facility
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Volunteers are from all sectors of health care
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Volunteers are primarily medical
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Provides triage and primary care
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Provides advanced medical care
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Provides disaster response as well as public health education, first aid stations, etc.
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Only provides disaster response
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No pay to volunteers for service time, travel, housing
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Volunteers are paid when on active duty. Travel and housing is covered.
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MERCHANDISE: There is also a list of first aid supplies and emergency items that can be incorporated in the Go-Packs. The list was sent to all that attended and can also be found on the SMCMRC.ORG website.
OTHER ITEMS:
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS:In the event that all communications are inoperable, we will rely on amateur radio operators. We have several amateur radio operators in our group (Dan Bernstein and Shirley Madden’s husband) but we will also discuss options with Dennis Paull of the HMB ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Services) group.
DISASTER MEETING SITE: In the event that a disaster occurs and all means of communications are disrupted, the SMC MRC will meet in front of the HMB Police Station. This location may change as the current Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is at the HMB Fire Station. In addition, there is some discussion about a common meeting place for all of the non-profit organizations on the Coast.
NATIONAL MRC MEETING DALLAS MAY 5-8
FUTURE DRILLS & FIELD EXERCISES: These would be joint activities with the California-DMAT team. I will email more information when it is available.
May 2: CAL-MAT team training in Santa Clara; 0900 - 1500 hrs. This is an all-day event covering a variety of training topics. Free! Also, BRN/CEU/CMEs offered.
June 13 & 14: California-DMAT disaster field exercise (FTX) at Camp Parks (Pleasanton); Exercise will consist of setting up portions of a field hospital and doing some training. Contra Costa MRC will be there, as will CAL-MAT.
NEXT SMC MRC MEETING: The next meeting will be in June or July.
Michael Klass, MD
