Home Briefly . . .

Good evening,

Early this morning I arrived home (2am) from the Bay of St. Louis (Waveland) MS after spending some 10 days with our NC SMAT Field Hospital. I will be here for the next several days, return there for a week and have a few days off before spending several quality days at MUSC.

I thought I would share a few tidbits of information from my perspective. Once we received our assignment, we arrived in Waveland MS Sunday the 2nd. We saw our first patient on the 3rd and as of my last briefing yesterday morning; we had seen some 1400 patients.

The local hospital is closed, after being flooded (3' of water) throughout the first floor which comprises more than 75% of the patient bed location. Right now it appears it will remain closed for the next eight weeks. During my time there, I met meet with the local hospital CEO each day to cover progress and work to transition our operation back into his hospital ASAP. A part of our plan to help him recover their hospital includes honoring their traditional referral patterns and allowing their staff/Medical Staff to see patients once they can address some of their personal needs.

The most severe cases include numerous MI's and one head injury from a four wheeler accident involving a 12 year old. Both Dr's Rich and Zarzaur, along with the staff on duty at that time, worked well together. The patient was flown by the USCG to the level 1 trauma center at Jackson, MS. Today, his prognosis for a full recovery is excellent.

The devastation is catastrophic.

While there are some areas that continue to emit putrid odors from all sorts of sources, I suggest that you don't believe some of the wire reports, at least from our perspective. The primary problems are lack of good sanitary practices due to a lack of running water for showers, washing eating utensils and general hygiene. While at some point the insects will return, they are not a problem now. During my 10 days there, I saw a mosquito on Saturday and a fly on Sunday. Any idea what the lifespan is of a small flying insect in a sustained wind of 150+ mph for several hours? I slept under the stars several nights without insect repellant in southern Mississippi, now what are the chances of that a year from now!

There were lots of extraordinary efforts throughout the week to get the hospital up and running. Those first few days were filled with getting the lights on, finding water, diesel and food. To know that an accomplishment today includes adding a second shower facility is great news and should be wonderful for morale. (Maslow would be pleased!) My other trip away from the hospital each day was a 20 mile midnight ride to the NASA station up the road, so I know I am.

I will rotate into the hospital every other week until the mission is completed either returning for another stint as the Incident Commander or as a Liaison to the local hospital. Regardless, I should have more time and will provide another look from downtown Camp K-Mart, “the saving place”.

Randy Kearns