Annals of Emergency Medicine
Volume 53, Issue 4 , Pages 505-514 , April 2009

Houston's Medical Disaster Response to Hurricane Katrina: Part 1: The Initial Medical Response From Trauma Service Area Q

  • Douglas R. Hamilton, MD, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Family and Community Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress for correspondence: Douglas R. Hamilton, MD, PhD, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, 3701 Kirby, Suite 600, Houston, TX 77098; 713-477-6851, fax 713-798-3644
    • ,
  • Thomas F. Gavagan, MD, MPH

      Affiliations

    • Department of Family Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL
    • ,
  • Kieran T. Smart, MD

      Affiliations

    • FSU College of Medicine, Sarasota, Department of Family Medicine and Rural Health, Sarasota, FL
    • ,
  • Lori A. Upton, RN, BSN, MS

      Affiliations

    • Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX
    • ,
  • Douglas A. Havron, RN, BSN, MS

      Affiliations

    • Southeast Texas Trauma Regional Advisory Council, Houston, TX
    • ,
  • Nancy F. Weller, BSN, DrPH

      Affiliations

    • Department of Family and Community Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
    • ,
  • Umair A. Shah, MD, MPH

      Affiliations

    • Harris County Public Health and Environmental Services
    • ,
  • Avrim Fishkind, MD

      Affiliations

    • Mental Health Mental Retardation Authority of Harris County, Houston, TX
    • ,
  • David Persse, MD

      Affiliations

    • City of Houston's Emergency Medical Services, Houston, TX
    • ,
  • Paul Shank, MBA

      Affiliations

    • San Luis Valley Regional Medical Center, Alamosa, CO
    • ,
  • Kenneth Mattox, MD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Surgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX

Received 9 February 2007 ,Revised 29 May 2008 ,Accepted 24 September 2008.

References 

  1. United States Senate. Statement of Robert A. Eckels, County Judge, Harris County, Texas before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on recovering from Hurricane Katrina: responding to the needs of the displaced, today and tomorrow. http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/_files/ACFEBF8.pdfAccessed November 21, 2008
  2. Henderson GS. Hurricane Katrina (Triaging tragedy). N Engl J Med. 2005;353:1551
  3. Mahoney LE, Swetonic MM, Bisgard JC, et al. Planning a National Disaster Medical System. Mil Med. 1984;149:657–660
  4. Upton LA, Frost MH, Havron DH. Operationalizing a regional unified medical command. J Homeland Security Emerg Manage. 2006;3:article 7 http://works.bepress.com/cmoc/1/Accessed November 21, 2008.
  5. Waring SC, Reynolds KM, D'Souza G, et al. Rapid assessment of household needs in the Houston area after Tropical Storm Allison. Disaster Manag Response. 2002;3–9
  6. Londorf D. Hospital application of the incident management system. Prehosp Disaster Med. 1995;10:184–188
  7. Chartoff SE, Gren JM. Survey of Iowa emergency medical services on the effects of the 1993 floods. Prehosp Disaster Med. 1997;12:210–214
  8. Gavagan TF, Noji E. Hurricane Katrina: response at the Houston Astrodome. South Med J. 2007;100:926–927
  9. Hamilton DR. A physician's notes from the Katrina Disaster (The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Outlook Magazine). http://rcpsc.medical.org/publications/outlook/fall2006/index.phpAccessed November 21, 2008.
  10. Mace SE, Jones JT, Bern AI. An analysis of Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) deployments in the United States. Prehosp Emerg Care. 2007;11:30–35
  11. Gavagan TF, Smart K, Palacio H, et al. Hurricane Katrina: medical response at the Houston Astrodome/Reliant Center Complex. South Med J. 2006;99:933–939
  12. Legome E, Robins A, Rund DA. Injuries associated with floods: the need for an international reporting scheme. Disasters. 1995;19:50–54
  13. Alson R, Alexander D, Leonard RB, et al. Analysis of medical treatment at a field hospital following Hurricane Andrew, 1992. Ann Emerg Med. 1993;22:1721–1728

 Supervising editor: Kathy J. Rinnert, MD, MPH

 Funding and support: By Annals policy, all authors are required to disclose any and all commercial, financial, and other relationships in any way related to the subject of this article that might create any potential conflict of interest. The authors have stated that no such relationships exist. See the Manuscript Submission Agreement in this issue for examples of specific conflicts covered by this statement.

 Publication dates: Available online January 10, 2009.

 Reprints not available from the author.

PII: S0196-0644(08)01898-2

doi: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2008.10.014

Annals of Emergency Medicine
Volume 53, Issue 4 , Pages 505-514 , April 2009

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