DMAT, MRC and other agency questions

[future medic 48_234]

Whats' the difference between DMAT and MRC?

Is there any other agencies that uses EMTs?

Does anyone serve on any agencies?

I've been thinking about joining them.

[Ridryder 911]

DMAT is a disaster medical assistance team that is composed of trained volunteers that may be organized for disasters locally and nationally by FEMA/ Homeland Security. MRC is a medical reserve that as well is group of medical experts that is usually categorized for speciality i.e. immunizations, emergency care, housing, psych etc for local assistance.

Many opt for MRC for local disasters, and the dedication of being away from home, work, etc.. Both require intense workshops, and training.

R/r 911

[future medic 48_234]

I'm still planning on joining those. I looked at www.dmat.com or .org something like that through another post. Anyways, when I sent an email, it did not work. The map showed Chic, Ill. as our region 6 HQ. How do I reach them?

[Scaramedic]

I believe the nearest unit to you would be OH-6.

OH-6 NEO DMAT

Peace,

Marty

:joker:

[Spock]

I am a supervisory nurse specialist with DMAT PA-1. We are not volunteers but are federal employees with a GS rating for salary based upon your qualifications. It took me almost 7 months to go through the application process and I can tell you it was a royal pain in the butt. I have not been deployed as of yet although I did receive an alert for possible deployment to St. Louis early last week. As far as I can tell, the only part of FEMA that worked well during the Katrina disaster were the DMAT teams.

My team deployed the weekend after July 4 for a large air show at the local Air Force Reserve base. We set up our base hospital and saw all patients before transport to the hospital by EMS. The number of transports was far fewer than in the past. It was a good exercise for the team.

I joined because it occurred to me after Katrina that I should not be critical the government response unless I was willing to be part of the solution. That said, FEMA should not be a part of Homeland Security. That is as close to a political statement as I will make.

You probably need to contact someone with your regional team to get anywhere. Our team is no longer taking EMS personnel because we have more than enough. There are different levels of teams based upon the qualifications of members. PA-1 was recently upgraded to level 2 (Level 1 is the highest) but we need psych people and pharmacists. Each DMAT team is supposed to be a fully functional hospital. The Feds supply the equipment. Frankly I think my team has far to many command personnel who are prehospital and have no clue how a hospital runs. Like I said, change comes from within.

Live long and prosper.

Spock

[Nate]

Like Spock said, it is the clinic/hospital personal that are really needed. You should have seen the massive hospital complex that was built in a few hours in the Reliant Complex here in Houston. It wasn't built by DMAT, but it was staffed real soon by groups as soon as they got there. They were very professional, they treated us (the EMS crews) as well as the original hospital staff well and respected us.

Can't say the same for many of the non-DMAT groups.

[sickbxy]

Is there any other agencies that uses EMTs?

Our local DMAT only uses emts in auxillary support services with federal disasters. EMTs can be more hands on with the OES and nonfederal missions.