First Responders: Surviving The Worst National Disaster in American History; Dr. Paulo J. Reyes, a First Responder in LA, Offers Insight into Disaster Relief Efforts

First Responders in New Orleans are facing an enormous task in their recovery efforts from Hurricane Katrina. An experienced doctor and First Responder, Dr. Paulo J. Reyes, offers advice on how to cope.

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) September 9, 2005 -- The scenes on the Gulf Coast are horrific. Destruction and loss of lives that even the most experienced police, doctors, and health care officials find too emotionally draining to handle. No amount of training could have prepared them for the devastation they have endured and will continue to endure. Yet their task has only begun. How can they cope in the weeks and months ahead and provide the assistance that is so desperately needed? One solution is to seek the guidance of someone who has been done it before and can offer assistance.

Dr. Paulo J. Reyes is an ER Doctor in Los Angeles and First Responder who has actively participated in disaster relief efforts including the Air Mexicana crash, the major earthquake in LA in 1994, and the influenza epidemic 1997-1998. He has a medical career spanning over 25 years. He is also the author of the fiction thriller, Sledgehammer, a portrayal of terrorists using smallpox as a biochemical weapon against the United States. Here is his unique perspective on the Katrina disaster and his advice for the first responders and encouragement for the days ahead.

A disaster is defined as an event occurring suddenly causing great loss of life, damage or hardship. These events are not predictable, and even when forecasted accurately, there is little that can be done to prevent them. Katrina is touted to have affected 250 miles of the Gulf Coast and several states, inundating New Orleans and leveling several cities. And with the destruction of these cities went the infrastructure necessary for the effective response to the disaster, which includes roadways, power lines, cable lines, telecommunication systems, water supply systems, food delivery systems, and fuel.

As physicians our primary goal is to provide medical attention to those that need it. Your first task as a first responder is to identify your command and control. If this is not present, attempt to establish one. This may be as simple as identifying you as the physician in charge if no one else is available. Then assess the available resources for your task, set up your communication with the appropriate local officials, and regional command and control, and begin to relegate and delegate the various tasks required to succeed in your mission. Often with limited supplies and support the best you can do is triage and administer first aid.

How quickly the established medical community can assume responsibility for caring for their community will determine how long your help will be required. Entire communities have been displaced and as a result their health care delivery systems will be overburdened, primarily the emergency medical systems. Therefore, the transition from first responders to a more reliable and stable health care delivery system must be planned. Since it usually requires years to develop health care delivery systems, some degree of innovation will be required to develop these systems in a timely way to address the needs of these displaced communities. This will require the joint efforts of local, state, and federal agencies to address bureaucratic red tape and allow entrepreneurship to help resolve the problem.

There is no doubt we will overcome this disaster and learn from it. But until then, we should all give a helping hand to those we have trained to help. The lessons our government can learn from this disaster today can serve as a stepping stone to doing it right the next time.

Dr. Reyes has previously appeared on CNN and is available for media interviews. More information is also available at this site at: http://www.pauloreyes.com. His book, Sledgehammer, is available at Amazon and other leading bookstores.

Contact:

http://www.pauloreyes.com

Diana Ennen

(954) 971-4025

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