Operation Sandbag

Courtesy Photo | A Kmart parking lot manhole cover in Waveland, Miss. shows evidence of the results of a mission undertaken by Soldiers from the Ohio, Florida and Georgia National Guards. The troops sandbagged around the manhole cover and the base of a North Carolina State Medical Assistance Team or SMAT field hospital set up in the parking lot. Inclement weather threatened to flood the temporary facility and interrupt medical services to area residents who have depended on the SMAT since Hurricane Katrina forced Hancock Medical Center to close. The field hospital workers expect to providing care until the county hospital reopens in about two months. hkat  

WAVELAND, MS, UNITED STATES

09.16.2005

Courtesy Story

196th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

Staff Sgt. Bob Barko Jr. 196TH MPAD

WAVELAND, Miss -- When a forecast of nasty weather threatened to flood a civilian field hospital set up in the KMart parking lot, Soldiers from Ohio, Florida and Georgia Army National Guard units answered the desperate call for help.

Unbeknownst to them, the North Carolina State Medical Assistance Team erected their mobile hospital in a water runoff area. Rather than take it down and move it, some reinforcement was in order.

Dr. Tom Blackwell, SMAT medical director and head of Medical Operations decided solving this problem was top priority for the field hospital workers.

While the SMAT hospital is designed to assist existing medical facilities with overflow in an area affected by a natural disaster, sealing the field hospital from potential high waters was not something they could handle.

"To get it done, we knew who we needed to call and that was the National Guard," said Blackwell. "Using National Guard assets to help us sandbag this facility is an incredibly important and logistical piece that we need."

Although the job of filling, transporting and stacking the more than 1,000 sandbags needed to waterproof the hospital seemed daunting to SMAT, it was nothing out of the ordinary for the National Guard.

After receiving the hospital's urgent plea, the Hancock County Public Works Department and the National Guard worked together to jumpstart the emergency project.

The call for help rapidly reached Sgt Major William Dillon, 73rd Troop Command, Ohio Army National Guard. He is the Operations Sergeant Major for Joint Task Force Buckeye, Ohio's military contingency helping with relief in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

After JTF Buckeye received the order to complete the sandbag operation, Dillon contacted Task Force Florida, another element of JTF Buckeye to send more than 25 Soldiers to fill, load and stack the sandbags. He also called in transportation from the 110th Combat Support Battalion from Georgia. Dillon and a Soldier from JTF Buckeye Joint Operations Center coordinated the link up of all the different elements of the vital operation.

"Everybody wanted to pitch in and do something and pitch in to help the people
because they've lost everything, said Dillon. "The Soldiers here, whether they're filling
sandbags or they're going house-to-house to check on people, know it's all part of the
mission to help the people recover from the hurricane. It's all a huge teamwork effort by
Florida, Georgia and Ohio to make this happen."

As Sgt MAJ Dillon ensured the operation ran smoothly, one of the Soldiers filling
sandbags at the nearby Hancock County Public Works site shared his thoughts on
the National Guard's relief efforts.

SPC Charles Cabana, is a soldier with the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd of the 124th, 3rd Infantry Battalion, Florida Army National Guard based in Panama City, Florida.

"I think it's great. Every little bit can help. Right now, these guys are filling sandbags and helping out the local (field) hospital here.

The 12-hour operation provides a little more insurance that the SMAT unit will be in Waveland for the long haul.

"We will be assisting this community and supporting Hancock Medical Center until they tell us "Thanks but we're ready to take over," said Blackwell. He estimated that it could take six-to-eight for the county hospital to be back in business.

hkat

• Date Taken: 09.16.2005
• Date Posted: 09.16.2005 11:47
• Story ID: 3029
• Location: WAVELAND, MS, US