Capt. Michael Mitchell admits that even though the members of the Nebraska National Guard’s CBRNE (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and high-Yield) Enhanced Response Force Package (CERFP) had their hands full during an Aug. 24-28 multi-state domestic emergency response exercise at the Mead Training Site, they couldn’t help but think about the very real world disaster unfolding along the northern Gulf Coast in Texas.
“We knew what was going on and we knew that we had some stills that might be useful,” said Mitchell, a Nebraska Air National Guardsman who serves as the medical plans officer for the joint Army and Air National Guard team.
What was going on was that Hurricane Harvey, after coming ashore near as a Category 4 hurricane near Rockport, Texas, on Aug. 25, had stalled out over the Houston metropolitan area – the fourth largest city in the United States – dropping biblical amounts of rain onto the region over a 5-day period. By the time the storm had subsided, an area the size of Delaware had received more than 40 inches of rain that caused widespread flooding and mandatory evacuations of thousands of residents.
Mitchell said the members of the media team began to hear about a possible call-up to provide support in Texas even as they worked to treat “patients” on the cracked, windswept plains of the Mead Training Site.
“We received a phone call from the Texas air operations center that they were going to need medical support and that our CERFP medical team was one of two that were being requested,” Mitchell said. “We didn’t have many details other than the fact that the whole team was going to be needed.
However, as the flooding drug out… so did the order calling for the 44-person team to deployed.
“It took roughly five days from the time that we were alerted until the time that we were deployed,” Mitchell said. “Initially, people were really excited to be called up. We constantly train for missions like this, but we seldom get the opportunity to put that training to use in the real world. So, we really wanted to deploy and help people.”
“However, the delay really put some stress on the Airmen and Soldiers, their families and their employers,” he said.
Finally, on Sept. 2, the team received the word to go.
With most of the team deploying from the Nebraska National Guard air base in Lincoln on the Labor Day weekend, the trip to Texas took roughly two days to complete, arriving at the Jack Brooks Regional Airport in Beaumont, Texas.
Setting up their cots and equipment in the airport terminal, Mitchell said the team soon got involved when they received a request to deliver some medical supplies to a temporary medical treatment facility that had been set up in the parking lot of a hospital in Vidor, Texas, that had lost electrical power. The Nebraska Guardsmen then stayed to assist with one of the shifts, Mitchell added.
According to Lt. Col. Scott Shaddy, the team’s commander, the Nebraska Guard doctors, nurses, emergency medical technicians and other medical staff members took over the evening shift at the makeshift facility, which consisted of tents set up outside of the hospital. Shaddy later told the Omaha World-Herald the work essentially consisted of treating cuts and scrapes, giving tetanus shots and dispensing medicines to people who had been without them for days.
When the hospital received power after roughly a day, the Nebraska team shifted to Vidor, Texas, where they set up another temporary emergency medical treatment facility in the parking lot of a local high school. There the team provided routine and other medical care for local residents who were unable to receive it at normal medical facilities due to the continuing flooding and power outages.
Over the course of just a few days of operation, the Nebraskans saw and treated roughly 150 people between the two facilities.
“The need was definitely there,” said Mitchell. “The first team that was deployed was from Texas and they said that they were extremely busy during the first days following the hurricane, but by the time we arrived it was starting to slow down. Even so, we did have an impact in helping people in need.”
The team remained on site until returning to Lincoln on Sept. 10.
| Date Taken: |
11.20.2017 |
| Date Posted: |
12.12.2017 13:13 |
| Story ID: |
258441 |
| Location: |
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, US |
| Web Views: |
44 |
| Downloads: |
0 |
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This work, Guard medical team jumps from exercise into real thing, by Kevin Hynes, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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