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NAEMT Issues Katrina Guidelines

National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians

Sep 1, 2005 6:01 PM

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Many EMS responders have called the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians asking how they can help other emergency responders and victims of Hurricane Katrina.

NAEMT recognizes the importance of providing emotional, financial and professional support to the EMS crews in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, and issues the following responder guidelines:

1. Do not self-dispatch to the scene.

In accordance with the position of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, NAEMT urges EMS responders not to self-dispatch to areas affected by Hurricane Katrina without being requested and lawfully dispatched by state and local authorities under mutual aid agreements and the Emergency Management Assistance Compact. Coordination under the National Incident Management System is impossible when EMS responders are not part of an organized response team.

2. Contact your local Red Cross office about volunteer opportunities.

There is not currently an infrastructure in place to process individual EMS volunteers who want to help in the disaster area. Instead, NAEMT urges EMS responders to contact their local Red Cross offices to inquire about volunteer opportunities. Many local Red Cross offices are compiling databases of potential volunteers with specific skill sets. This is currently the best way for EMS personnel not currently affiliated with a medical response team to assist the disaster response effort. The following url goes directly to an online list of local Red Cross offices: http://www.redcross.org/where/chapts.asp. If and when new volunteer opportunities for EMS responders present themselves, NAEMT will post them on its Web site at www.naemt.org.

3. If you are employed by a fire department, notify your chief if you want to be deployed to the hurricane scene.

The United States Fire Administration has issued a call for responders needed for community service duties in the hurricane-affected areas. Responders must be:

Physically capable of performing manual tasks under severe conditions;

Experienced in working with minimum supervision;

Capable of living in austere, severe living conditions with minimal or no creature comforts for a period of at least 30 days;

Free of medical condition(s) that would prevent them from working in these conditions for this period of time; and,

Able to work within the ICS, provide basic first aid, and follow orders.

The work is non-operational community relations focused activities that consist of direct outreach to persons in the affected areas. They will assist victims in understanding how they will go about the process of getting federal assistance, distributing information, providing minimal first-aid, and taking reports. The work will be outside, exposed to the elements and will require significant walking.

The current need is for 1,000 two-person teams. A department may offer more than one two-person team. These people will be deployed as a team, and the United States Fire Administration has expressed a preference that they know one another prior to deployment.

This initial request is for full-time career firefighters that are employed by municipal government and sponsored by that municipality because of the way that salaries and expenses will be reimbursed. Members of volunteer fire and EMS departments are not being recruited at this time.

4. Make financial donations to the NAEMT EMS Rescuer and Relief Fund.

NAEMT established the EMS and Rescuer Relief Fund after 9-11 to collect money for the families of the EMS workers who died responding to the terrorist attacks. That fund remains operational, and funds collected at this time will be distributed to EMS responders affected by Hurricane Katrina.

NAEMT urges anyone who is able to make a financial donation to send a check to the NAEMT EMS and Rescuer Relief Fund c/o the NAEMT Headquarters, P.O. Box 1400, Clinton, MS 39060-1400. Credit card donations may be made by calling 800-34-NAEMT. Individual and corporate donations are welcome. NAEMT has pledged to cover the operational costs of the fund, permitting all donations to the fund to be distributed in their entirety.

The money collected will be made available to EMS professionals who need help re-building their lives in the wake of the hurricane. No decisions have been made yet as to precisely when and how the funds will be disseminated. After Sept. 11, 2001, NAEMT disseminated $107,553 to assist the families of EMS workers who died in the line of duty while responding to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

5. Offer emotional support through NAEMTResponds@aol.com.

Because many EMS responders in the hurricane-affected areas are working around-the-clock under very stressful conditions, and because many of them also have suffered great personal losses, NAEMT urges EMS responders to offer emotional support through any communication methods available.

Electronic messages of support may be sent c/o NAEMTResponds@aol.com. These messages will be posted on the NAEMT Web site ( www.naemt.org), as well as forwarded to NAEMT Governors in the affected states for dissemination to local EMS responders. EMS responders are urged to use NAEMT communications channels to keep in contact with their EMS brothers and sisters affected by the hurricane.

NAEMT is the oldest and largest association of Emergency Medical Technicians, Paramedics and other emergency medical responders. Its national headquarters are located in Clinton, Mississippi, and were temporarily closed immediately following the hurricane. NAEMT President Ken Bouvier and Past President John Roquemore, both from the New Orleans area, are currently serving their communities during the Katrina disaster.