Your medical society mobilized about 500
community physicians — all volunteers — to provide
health care to evacuees from Hurricane Harvey.
December 2017 Dallas Medical Journal 3
occurred. Th is response of creating a
M.A.S.H.-like clinic inside the largest
shelter (and the city using the convention
center parking lot) became the model
for shelter responses during hurricanes
Rita (2005), Gustav (2008), Ike (2008),
and Harvey (2017). Sending individuals
with medical needs to area hospitals
or outpatient clinics almost assuredly
would have overwhelmed our emergency
departments during Katrina, particularly
during the fi rst 24 to 48 hours.
Subsequent hurricane shelter operations
and medical needs have varied quite a bit,
as shown in the accompanying table. Th e
response to Hurricane Harvey required
many more days of medical clinic support
by volunteers, even compared to the
combined response during hurricanes
Katrina and Rita because many of the
medical visits after the initial critical
surge were staff ed by Parkland’s Homeless
Outreach Medical Services (HOMES).
Some of these numbers are estimates
based on personal notes and recollections,
and may be missing critical pieces. We
simply did not have time to record
this information in the middle of the
response. Note that when comparing
Harvey to Katrina in terms of peak shelter
populations, Harvey used a single shelter
at the convention center. During Katrina,
shelters at Reunion Arena, Decker Jail, and
dozens of other area locations housed a
substantial number of evacuees.
Beyond mobilizing physicians to serve
at shelter clinics, DCMS has contributed
during a number of other public health
emergencies and natural disasters in the
past decade. A disaster relief fund, created
through the DCMS Foundation, supported
two physician private practices in Mesquite
that were destroyed by a tornado in 2015.
DCMS physicians responded in 2014
during the Dallas Ebola crisis by being
media spokespersons, visiting with school
offi cials and elected leaders, and speaking
with neighborhood groups and faith-based
communities about the facts and myths of
the virus. During the 2012 West Nile Virus
outbreak, DCMS physicians mobilized
after seeing too many neuro-invasive
infections, guiding city and county offi cials
on the need for immediate mosquito
control measures, including aerial spraying.
And in 2009, during the H1N1 Infl uenza
Pandemic, DCMS physicians volunteered
in mass vaccination clinics, much in the
way the medical society organized 1967
polio vaccination campaigns.
Th e response to Hurricane Harvey now
is added to the library of DCMS public
health responses and provides another
excellent opportunity to use lessons learned
in order to ensure that future responses are
even more eff ective. I hope that continued
discussions and after-action reporting will
capture this important opportunity. Clearly
evident at this point are the important
contributions of DCMS staff who provided
critical manpower and expertise for the
crucial components of medical volunteer
management.
So, it is back to you, physicians, and
especially members of DCMS. If you
signed up to volunteer, thank you. We
hope that your experience was rewarding,
and that you know your contribution
ensured the safety and health of our guests.
If you volunteered and never made it to the
schedule, thank you for signing up. Your
interest ensured that there was enough
depth to schedule physicians for every shift
for nearly three weeks. For those who were
not able to volunteer this time, know that
your dues and commitment to the medical
society remained important ingredients to
the success of the medical clinic.
For those who have not yet joined
DCMS, I hope you will consider this your
new inspiration to do so. Th e commitment
and dedication of DCMS members and
staff help ensure that residents of Dallas
County, as well as communities of people
who come here during an emergency,
remain safe and healthy. I hope you will
be a part of this eff ort because almost
assuredly, DCMS will need to respond
again soon. DMJ
Dallas Conventi on Center as a Shelter for Hurricane Evacuees
*Registered for evacuee services (e.g., medical, meals, housing assistance)
N/A = not available