Marshal Isaacs, MD, center, conducts a daily mandatory meeti ng for
leaders of each agency involved in the clinic operati on.
Although some said we developed
a “megashelter with a hospital,” we
chose to see this as a “hospital with
a massive dormitory.”
December 2017 Dallas Medical Journal 7
expanded in scope and scale to include our
partners from:
• DCMS, led by DCMS President
John Carlo, MD; EVP/CEO Michael
Darrouzet; and Chief Operating Offi cer
Connie Webster
• Dallas Medical Operations Center
• Dallas County Emergency Nurses
Association, led by Breanne Ward
• Dallas County Health Department,
led by Wendy Chung, MD, and her
team of epidemiologists and infection
prevention specialists
• Offi ce of Dallas County Judge Clay
Jenkins, Ruby Blum
• Children’s Health, led by Halim
Hennes, MD, and Lori Vinson, RN
• Emergency psychiatric medicine, led
by Frank Webster, MD, and Metrocare
Services
• Parkland Health & Hospital System
Disaster Management, led by Chris
Noah
• HASA, led by Gijs van Oort and Jim
Hoag
• Parkland BioTel staff , led by Melody
Gardner and LuAnn McKee
• Baylor Scott & White
• Medical City Dallas
• Texas Health Resources Presbyterian
Dallas
• Emergency Medicine Consultants
• Department of Veterans Aff airs
• American Red Cross
• Texas National Guard
• UTSW medical students
• DART
• Dallas County Hospital District Police
Department
• Walmart Pharmacy
Working under the leadership of Dallas City
Manager T.C. Broadnax’s offi ce through
Assistant City Manager Jon Fortune and
Dallas Offi ce of Emergency Management
Director Rocky Vaz and Deputy Director
Kevin Oden, the MMC was incorporated
into the overall unifi ed command structure
of the Megashelter. Th is allowed the MMC
to focus solely on providing timely and
exemplary care to the shelter’s guests and
staff .
Over the next three weeks, working in
13,000 square feet of space divided into
critical care, emergency, urgent, nonacute,
pediatrics, behavioral health, and infection
prevention pods, more than 500 volunteer
physicians, nurses, medical students and
support staff , along with paramedics,
fi refi ghters and law enforcement offi cers
worked 24 hours a day, evaluating and
treating more than 2,500 patients. Only
8 percent of patients required emergency
transport to Parkland, Baylor or Methodist
hospitals by Dallas Fire-Rescue. Parkland
and DART vans transported another 500
patients with less critical needs to urgent care
appointments, including dialysis. Medical
case managers worked on-site to meet
patients’ additional social services needs.
During the operational period, not a
single person died and there were no adverse
outcomes. And while we (sort of) hoped we
might deliver a baby, all soon-to-be moms
were stabilized and transported to hospitals
to deliver their “Hurricane Harvey babies.”
Th roughout the event, disease outbreak
surveillance was conducted, and infection
control procedures prevented disease
outbreak.
Th e MMC demonstrated that we were
able to adapt the services we provided
based on shelter population needs. In doing
so, we developed and improved working
relationships with multiple city, county
and community providers to deliver an
extraordinary level of care to our guests.
Finally, we captured signifi cant data that is
being evaluated so we may improve sheltering
and other disaster medical operations that
Dallas may need in the future.
Admittedly, I am not from here (yes, I’m
a “damn Yankee”), but let there be no doubt
that I love the city of Dallas and the great
state of Texas. Th is operation is just one
example of why I could not be prouder of
the dedicated professionals who worked as a
team during this operation to contribute to
its success. Because of their hard work, the
Megashelter Medical Clinic demonstrated
that Dallas is well-prepared to manage any
medical sheltering operation or disaster
medical incident. In addition, the lessons
learned from the Hurricane Harvey medical
operation will serve to further improve
the city and county’s medical disaster
preparedness.
We are most grateful to have our
partnership with the Dallas County Medical
Society to help us develop additional
strategies to ensure success in future disaster
medical operations.
I know I speak for all the medical
providers and partners involved in the
MMC in expressing our gratitude for the
opportunity to have been of service to our
neighbors from South Texas and to the city
and county of Dallas.
Oh, one more thing.
I love ICS.
It works. DMJ