# 2963
—Photograph by Carolyn Kaster/AP
Over the past week Fargo, North Dakota has faced the duel threats of a record cresting of the Red River and a blizzard on top of it. The pictures are as heartbreaking as they are instructional.
Disasters can happen anywhere, and at anytime. In 2008, there were 75 Federally declared disasters in the United States alone.
This past weekend it was Fargo, in December it was New England that saw 800,000 homes plunged into darkness for several days after a severe ice storm, and last September it was Galveston Island inundated by the surge tide of Hurricane Ike.
Next week, or next month. . . who knows?
All of which points out the need for every community to prepare, and to drill, to be ready to deal with disasters.
We get a fascinating story today from ProPublica, which describes itself as `an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest’.
The article is written by Dr. Sheri Fink, who has reported on health, medicine and science from around the world.
Fink is the author of the acclaimed book War Hospital: A True Story of Surgery and Survival (Public Affairs, 2003) – the harrowing tale of doctors and nurses working in a besieged city during the Bosnian War.
Dr. Fink’s account of the evacuation of nearly 200 medically fragile hospital and nursing home patients in the face of devastating flooding shows the importance of community preparedness and training to deal with a variety of hazards and emergencies.
As Dr. Fink points out, things didn’t always go smoothly, but when you compare this situation to that faced during the flooding of New Orleans in 2005, the difference is remarkable.
As you read this, ask yourself.
In the face of disaster, is your community as well prepared to deal with the unexpected?
Please follow the links to read the article in it’s entirety. It is well worth the effort.
Disaster Preparedness Pays Off in North Dakota
by Sheri Fink, ProPublica - March 31, 2009 12:52 pm EDT
Dora Pratt, center, is helped to a waiting van as she is evacuated with all residents at the Elim Rehab & Care Center on March 26, 2009 in Fargo, N.D. (Carolyn Kaster/AP Photos)
Last Thursday night, Dr. Bruce Pitts, an executive vice president at MeritCare Hospital [1] in Fargo, ND, faced an excruciating decision. His two-campus hospital, the largest in the state, had whittled its patient population down through discharges and transfers as the Red River rose, but 180 patients remained. They included fragile babies in the neonatal ICU, complicated long term acute care adult patients, and high risk obstetrics patients. Moving them would be risky and difficult.
But just hours earlier, the predicted height of the river’s crest had jumped, and Pitts received word that a nearby dike looked vulnerable. The Department of Homeland Security was encouraging local officials to consider a city-wide evacuation. Once the sun rose on Friday, the roads would likely be clogged with volunteer sandbaggers and residents fleeing town, including those from local nursing homes. If the State mandated an evacuation of all healthcare facilities, Pitts’ hospital, whose service area is roughly the size of the state of New York, would be competing for available ambulances and busses.
Pitts and his incident command team gathered for a meeting. The mood was somber as they discussed various options. “We decided,” he said, “to pull the trigger.”
Today, as a blizzard whips [2] Fargo, city residents are keeping a wary eye on the still-swollen Red River, whose levels are, for now, dropping. Disaster officials have rested easier knowing that fewer of the city’s most vulnerable remain, those who would have faced particular danger if a flood cut off road access and drowned city utilities such as power, drinking water and sewage services.
My thanks go to Maryn McKenna, the Editor of the Superbug blog who is busily working against a deadline on her soon to be published book - SUPERBUG: The Rise of Drug-Resistant Staph and the Danger of a World Without Antibiotics - for sharing this link with me.
