heldengebroed said:
medical aid. It was a story that has been confirmed by another Doctor who headed earlier B-Fast teams in other desaster arias and happend to be in the city during the katrina. The comment wasn't on the jobs they did but the lack off " flexibility" of the organisations.
Greetings
Johan
In a organized mass casualty incident as this was, the plans are for no flexibility of organizations. Much time and money has been dedicated to develop a comprehensive Incident Command System (ICS). In a natural disaster such as this, each entity involved is assigned their tasks, usually predetermined by the local, then escalating to the county, state, and finally ferderal Offices of Emergency Management. For example, the Coast Guard role is search and rescue. The National Guard's role is search, rescue and assisting in law enforcement. The Red Cross's role is strictly and completly humanitarian aid, including initially providing food and shelter.
If the Red Cross workers suddenly decided that they were going out on search and rescue, havoc would prevail. It's great that your friend volunteered to provide medical aid. But the problem is that many well-meaning volunteers impair the system more than they help it.
Everyone admits that the system was slow in responding to this incident. But blame is not at the organization level, it was at the administrative command level. The FEMA director has been fired, and I am sure that his replacement has learned from his errors.
From a person who has worked on formation of disaster plans, and worked through a few, flexibility is the last thing you want in the system. A prime example was New York City. For years the NYPD and FDNY fought about who was in command of an incident. This escalated to fist fights among the responders. After a well defind ICS was instituted, there is now a seamless coordination between the resources of both entities. New York's response to 9/11 was a textbook example for all emergency organizations, in spite of the flaws that emerged.
