I understand...
Jan. 20th, 2010 02:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seticatI understand that the folks in Haiti needed medical care and troops on the ground hours after the quake happened - food and water and shelter and everything, basically. I really do.
But since most of the US deployable medical strength [troops, supplies, mobile medical units, etc] are currently deployed overseas, I don't see how we could have sent US military medical folks there faster.
I just needed to get that out because I'm getting frustrated with all the stuff coming out on the TV about how we [the US] 'should' have done things differently, gotten stuff there faster, etc. I've done disaster work and it can honestly take a fair amount of lead time to get the ball rolling, especially when the damage is as wide spread as this, the harbor is trashed, the airport is dinky and there's next to no fuel anywhere. You really want to try and help and get folks in to help, but please remember that for every person who lands to help, they will also require food and water and some sort of shelter for them along with whatever they can bring in for others.
And on another personal note, doctors and nurses are good, but what a disaster needs the first couple of days are all the paramedics and EMTs you can get your hands on. Folks who are more often trained to make due with less, to improvise and make something work. I love docs and nurses, don't get me wrong - hell, I've worn the nurses cap from time to time, but the skills of these folks require equipment most of the time: EKGs, lab work, suture kits, etc. Parameds and EMTs [both civ and military] are more likely to think 'outside of the box'. Their skills are more hands-on. They're more likely to grab a cardboard box right off the bat to make a makeshift splint that to spend time look for a real one. That certainly doesn't take away from the need for real supplies [Iv's and such], but I think field trained folks could be more useful.
I'm just frustrated, can you tell? I want to be *there*! Doing something to help and I know I'd be more of a impediment than a benefit. But that doesn't change the feelings...
But since most of the US deployable medical strength [troops, supplies, mobile medical units, etc] are currently deployed overseas, I don't see how we could have sent US military medical folks there faster.
I just needed to get that out because I'm getting frustrated with all the stuff coming out on the TV about how we [the US] 'should' have done things differently, gotten stuff there faster, etc. I've done disaster work and it can honestly take a fair amount of lead time to get the ball rolling, especially when the damage is as wide spread as this, the harbor is trashed, the airport is dinky and there's next to no fuel anywhere. You really want to try and help and get folks in to help, but please remember that for every person who lands to help, they will also require food and water and some sort of shelter for them along with whatever they can bring in for others.
And on another personal note, doctors and nurses are good, but what a disaster needs the first couple of days are all the paramedics and EMTs you can get your hands on. Folks who are more often trained to make due with less, to improvise and make something work. I love docs and nurses, don't get me wrong - hell, I've worn the nurses cap from time to time, but the skills of these folks require equipment most of the time: EKGs, lab work, suture kits, etc. Parameds and EMTs [both civ and military] are more likely to think 'outside of the box'. Their skills are more hands-on. They're more likely to grab a cardboard box right off the bat to make a makeshift splint that to spend time look for a real one. That certainly doesn't take away from the need for real supplies [Iv's and such], but I think field trained folks could be more useful.
I'm just frustrated, can you tell? I want to be *there*! Doing something to help and I know I'd be more of a impediment than a benefit. But that doesn't change the feelings...
