RE: EMS Response to Evacuation Centers

September 5, 2005

Andy,

Thanks. I have forwarded this to , and maybe this can be documented.

gg

>

> Well guess what? I have a best friend that is a State Trooper in Louisiana

> (Captain) that says if you can produce this ticket or proof of it, he will

> personally take care of it and the person that wrote it. But if you

> cannot,

> God help you if he ever finds you across the border.

> He is tired of this s__t and the bad publicity that goes with the people

> that spread it.

>

> Andy

>

> In a message dated 9/5/2005 8:50:24 P.M. Central Standard Time,

> wegandy1938@... writes:

>

> Well, I got it from Tate, Tyler, TX FF/LP, who apparently got it

> from

> somebody in Tyler. Tyler is where hire's national headquarters

> is.

> So

> I guess you'd have to ask the driver to be absolutely positive.

>

> GG

>

> E.(Gene) Gandy

> POB 1651

> Albany, TX 76430

> wegandy1938@...

>

> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

>

September 5, 2005

Andy,

Thanks. I have forwarded this to , and maybe this can be documented.

gg

>

> Well guess what? I have a best friend that is a State Trooper in Louisiana

> (Captain) that says if you can produce this ticket or proof of it, he will

> personally take care of it and the person that wrote it. But if you

> cannot,

> God help you if he ever finds you across the border.

> He is tired of this s__t and the bad publicity that goes with the people

> that spread it.

>

> Andy

>

> In a message dated 9/5/2005 8:50:24 P.M. Central Standard Time,

> wegandy1938@... writes:

>

> Well, I got it from Tate, Tyler, TX FF/LP, who apparently got it

> from

> somebody in Tyler. Tyler is where hire's national headquarters

> is.

> So

> I guess you'd have to ask the driver to be absolutely positive.

>

> GG

>

> E.(Gene) Gandy

> POB 1651

> Albany, TX 76430

> wegandy1938@...

>

> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

>

September 5, 2005

said the ticket showed Lousiana....

Jane Hill

-------------- Original message from wegandy1938@...: --------------

Was this a Texas or a Louisiana trooper?

GG

> Unbelievable........

>

> Jane Hill

>

> -------------- Original message from " E. Tate " :

> --------------

>

> My understanding on the ticket is that is was issued in Louisiana........Â

> Sounds like that trooper needs to be reassigned to NOLA.

>

> Tater

>

> je.hill@... wrote:

> You have very good points all, . Thanks for the info and God bless you

> and TFD for your efforts. And see if you can find a way to send the info on

> that ticket to DPS chiefs in Austin. Somebody needs to say something here....

> I realize the rules are there to protect the lifespan of our roads but that

> is really unconscionable in my opinion.

>

> Jane Hill

>

> -------------- Original message from " E. Tate " : --------------

>

> Hello everyone,

>

> I've been dealing with the â€œsurvivorsâ€ most of today here in Tyler.

Calling

> a person a â€œrefugeeâ€ or an â€œevacueeâ€ is a negative statement and

causes a

> sense of hopelessness. I say this because the Red Cross stressed to us today

> that the one thing that will keep our â€œFriends from Louisianaâ€ upbeat is

> Hope. We must remember that when contacting them in any way, even on the front

> lines. We must help them to maintain a sense of hope. Without hope, they have

> nothing. With nothing, they will result to lawlessness and other negative

> means of communication and survivorship.

>

> In Tyler's disaster plan there are 3 designated shelters. As of Friday night

> those were all full, just as Governor called saying there were an

> additional 1000 people coming to Tyler from the disaster areas. Our EOC went

into

> overdrive and designated a 4th shelter at UT-Tylerâ€™s Patriot Center and

> asked our church to oversee it. The first survivors arrived on Saturday, less

> than 24 hours after our initial notification. We are planning for 6 â€“ 8

weeks

> possibly, we just do not know at this point. Our maximum capacity will be 240.

>

> UT has set up several computers with internet access. Volunteers are

> assisting these survivors in locating missing family members and letting

others know

> that they are safe. The website that is coordinating this effort is located

> at http://www.familylinks.icrc.org/katrina/locate

>

> Several of the survivors here are trying to get to other areas of the

> country to join other family members. There is a huge dry erase board with the

> names of the survivors, where they want to go, and the estimated cost of a bus

> ticket. Our church is gathering donations to help with these things. If you

aren

> â€™t available to help in person (I.e. too far away from any of the shelters)

> send money even if itâ€™s just a few dollars, donate blood, etc.

>

> If you are not called into action on the front lines with Alan, Ed, Meris,

> and the others that have been mentioned on this list, please offer to

> volunteer with the Red Cross. They need all kinds of help. Today I made plans

for an

> Engine Company to come to the shelter in my fire district and â€œentertainâ€

> the kids for a little while. You might think this is a trivial issue, but try

> locking yourself in a small room several young children for 3 or 4 days and

> see what you think then. Anything entertaining would be welcome. I bet

> Luther and his fellows could more than help with something like this (hint,

> hint, hint). I am also working with a local Ice Cream manufacturer to supply

> enough Ice Cream for these survivors so that they can enjoy the holiday

> tomorrow. One of the most important things is to help them maintain a sense of

> normalcy.

>

> We have very close family friends in , Mississippi. They said there

> us substantial damage in that area. Every highway sign is gone and a large

> percentage of trees are down. A thought I had about this was, what if this

storm

> had made landfall in the Houston area? This would have assured great

> destruction as far north as Tyler.

>

> Mobilized and working in Tyler,

>

> Tater

>

> P.S. A note on the ridiculous side:

>

> hire Grocery Company here in Tyler is shipping food and water as fast

> as they can to that area. They are donating the ice and water they are

> sending to that area. One of their trucks was issued a ticket for being 225

pounds

> over the legal weight limit this week while passing through a weigh station.

> You would think the Troopers would have some common sense about them with

> this. Good grief, that cop really needs to get a life!!!!

>

> Tater

>

> je.hill@... wrote:Ed, thank you for sharing this and your prior post

> with us. The general tendency for human nature under stress is to be highly

> critical of others. " It is not enough, it isn't fast enough, we aren't getting

> any help... " While there will be many more lessons learned on how to deal with

> a crisis of this magnitude, we should all be careful not to spend too much

> energy on criticizing and pointing fingers and instead, expend that energy on

> not only trying to continue to mitigate the process but start collecting and

> collating the lessons learned and make sure that we do better next time. God

> forbid there will be a next time, but there will be. Whether it will be a

> natural disaster or an act of terrorism or out and out war, we have no way to

> know. But this situation has shown many in all stages of government and

> emergency reponse which of the tabletop drills and plans work, which ones

don't, and

> should provide structure for development of newer and bigger plans

> for the protection of the American public in the future. It is unfortunate

> that many of our Americans have had to suffer and will continue to suffer (not

> counting the drain on resources and burden on the entire American population

> for years to come), but no matter how much you plan, no matter how your

> plans are developed and which " experts " help lay the plan out, we were still

> depending on human imagination and simulations to try and develop bigger and

> better plans since 9/11. The media has only just begun showing the massive

> response that is coming in now from the military, public and private

organizations,

> and surrounding states. It DOES take time to implement responses and part of

> the problem seems to have been communications between the EOC's of the

> affected states and FEMA, surrounding state EOC's, and other groups. BUT, we

learn

> from mistakes - that is ALSO sometimes the ONLY way we humans learn (and

> sometimes not even then). So hopefully streamlining and integration of

> disaster plans will be the major topic for the future.

>

> Ways to look ahead include taking our RAC disaster plans for instance and

> ensuring that ALL other response agencies are involved with them and know what

> we are going to do, we know what they are going to do, and plan ahead of time

> on how to work together. Then correlating those plans with surrounding RAC's

> and our state agencies is the next step so that we can fall in with them.

> And then comes the feds, and we have to develop our plans so we can adequately

> and efficiently work with them.

> Unfortunately, hospitals and EMS folks sometimes forget that to mitigate a

> large response in our home areas, we have to have plans in place to play with

> EVERYONE and know who and what and how to get everyone that we need promptly.

> One lesson learned from Katrina is that our state governments have to call

> for federal help like the National Guard and other branches of the military

> for natural disasters (if they forget, then the feds just can't send them

based

> on what they THINK they need). Our state governments have to not only

> implement their state plans but if the disaster is large, like in this case,

their

> EOC's have to immediately set up folks to work with state EOC's from as many

> states as they feel they need to help them. And they have to continue to

> communicate with them and the feds or the process of getting much needed aid

bogs

> down.

>

> So there are a couple of issues here while we watch in awe the massive

> relief going on or, we actively participate if given the chance. One is to

start

> working on our local plans to better correlate them with our COG's, our county

> and city emergency management officials, our local fire services - ANYONE

> who might be involved. All players have to be at the table and work on the

> plans TOGETHER or they JUST DON'T WORK. Then we need to take those developed

> plans and work with our state DSHS and Emergency Management group, who will be

> responsible for our State EOC in a large incident. THEY then should help us

> correlate our plans with the government agencies. I think that was the

original

> intent of NIMS, but it has issues and will probable mutate as will once this

> response has minimized and the future starts to be reviewed. But in our

> section of Texas, most EMS agencies and such have never heard of NIMS, and

many

> individuals in our hospitals and RAC's and EMS services have not even

> begun to look at the possibilities and the potentially VERY big picture.

>

> Second, Ed pointed out that we need to look at these refugees coming into

> our own communities. We need to find ways to make that situation work for THEM

> and FOR US. While many of these folks coming to our cities are innocents who

> are really down on their luck, there are those mixed in who can prove to be a

> strain on our resources including law enforcement. We the citizens of our

> cities and counties must look at this situation and get our churches and RACs

> and everyone we can involved with mitigating the potential issues for US, and

> trying to help these people as much as we reasonably can.

>

> There is plenty to do for everyone I think. I am sitting at home today doing

> laundry waiting on what I will be assigned to do hopefully by our RAC or

> other agencies in our area to help mitigate the impact of the response on the

> Big Country. I am anxious to see what our RAC has committed to the state EOC

> and help with that if needed because that is the proper chain of command. But

> my hat is definitely off to you Ed and all of the other relief workers,

> private, public, military, federal, whomever who have been able to go to these

> states and actively help them. Please keep free from disease while you are

there,

> and may God bless you all.

>

> Jane Hill

>

> -------------- Original message from emsbrando@...: --------------

>

> And another thing about the media. I wish they were with us in " Hell " . Then

> they would have seen us giving water to all those who requested it and MRE's

> as well. They could have seen me give my heater meal to an old man holding a

> peanut butter and jelly sandwich crying because that was all he had eaten in

> three days, so I traded his sandwich for my heated chicken and noodles. They

> would have seen us giving water to the nursing home patients at the airport

> that were on baggage carts pulled by a tractor to their assigned areas. And

> they

> would have seen us handing patients our personal cell phones once we dialed

> the numbers of their family members because no one knew if they were alive

> or

> not, and the tears of joy from a short conversation. I called family in

> Wisconsin, Georgia, Arkansas, Texas, California and other places to let

> families know

> that their loved ones were fine and were on the way to a shelter or hospital

> somewhere. They would have seen us taking care of others in a way that has

> nothing to do with being a paramedic but has everything to do with just

> being

> human. You wont see that on the news, but I will have that memory for the

> rest

> of my life. If that is all I have, so be it. I've spent my time in " hell " ,

> and would go back in a heartbeat.

>

> Ed Brando

>

September 5, 2005

I can verify it happened because my dog's vet's sister-in-law's cousin's

proctologist heard it directly from the trooper's uncle's mechanic's Schwann

s man.

And if that ain't the gospel I don't know what is!

-- Re: EMS Response to Evacuation Centers

Not to be cynical but rumors have been so rampant, who actually can verify

that this happened?

Andy

In a message dated 9/5/2005 7:19:37 P.M. Central Standard Time,

wegandy1938@... writes:

Was this a Texas or a Louisiana trooper?

GG

> Unbelievable........

>

> Jane Hill

>

> -------------- Original message from " E. Tate " :

> --------------

>

> My understanding on the ticket is that is was issued in Louisiana........

> Sounds like that trooper needs to be reassigned to NOLA.

>

> Tater

>

> je.hill@... wrote:

> You have very good points all, . Thanks for the info and God bless

you

> and TFD for your efforts. And see if you can find a way to send the info

on

> that ticket to DPS chiefs in Austin. Somebody needs to say something

here....

> I realize the rules are there to protect the lifespan of our roads but

that

> is really unconscionable in my opinion.

>

> Jane Hill

>

> -------------- Original message from " E. Tate " : --------------

>

> Hello everyone,

>

> I've been dealing with the â€œsurvivorsâ€ most of today here in Tyler.

Calling

> a person a â€œrefugeeâ€ or an â€œevacueeâ€ is a negative statement and

causes

a

> sense of hopelessness. I say this because the Red Cross stressed to us

today

> that the one thing that will keep our â€œFriends from Louisianaâ€ upbeat

is

> Hope. We must remember that when contacting them in any way, even on the

front

> lines. We must help them to maintain a sense of hope. Without hope, they

have

> nothing. With nothing, they will result to lawlessness and other negative

> means of communication and survivorship.

>

> In Tyler's disaster plan there are 3 designated shelters. As of Friday

night

> those were all full, just as Governor called saying there were an

> additional 1000 people coming to Tyler from the disaster areas. Our EOC

went into

> overdrive and designated a 4th shelter at UT-Tylerâ€™s Patriot Center and

> asked our church to oversee it. The first survivors arrived on Saturday,

less

> than 24 hours after our initial notification. We are planning for 6 â€“ 8

weeks

> possibly, we just do not know at this point. Our maximum capacity will be

240.

>

> UT has set up several computers with internet access. Volunteers are

> assisting these survivors in locating missing family members and letting

others know

> that they are safe. The website that is coordinating this effort is

located

> at http://www.familylinks.icrc.org/katrina/locate

>

> Several of the survivors here are trying to get to other areas of the

> country to join other family members. There is a huge dry erase board

with

the

> names of the survivors, where they want to go, and the estimated cost of

a

bus

> ticket. Our church is gathering donations to help with these things. If

you aren

> â€™t available to help in person (I.e. too far away from any of the

shelters)

> send money even if itâ€™s just a few dollars, donate blood, etc.

>

> If you are not called into action on the front lines with Alan, Ed, Meris

> and the others that have been mentioned on this list, please offer to

> volunteer with the Red Cross. They need all kinds of help. Today I made

plans for an

> Engine Company to come to the shelter in my fire district and

â€œentertainâ€

> the kids for a little while. You might think this is a trivial issue, but

try

> locking yourself in a small room several young children for 3 or 4 days

and

> see what you think then. Anything entertaining would be welcome. I bet

> Luther and his fellows could more than help with something like this

(hint,

> hint, hint). I am also working with a local Ice Cream manufacturer to

supply

> enough Ice Cream for these survivors so that they can enjoy the holiday

> tomorrow. One of the most important things is to help them maintain a

sense of

> normalcy.

>

> We have very close family friends in , Mississippi. They said

there

> us substantial damage in that area. Every highway sign is gone and a

large

> percentage of trees are down. A thought I had about this was, what if

this

storm

> had made landfall in the Houston area? This would have assured great

> destruction as far north as Tyler.

>

> Mobilized and working in Tyler,

>

> Tater

>

> P.S. A note on the ridiculous side:

>

> hire Grocery Company here in Tyler is shipping food and water as

fast

> as they can to that area. They are donating the ice and water they are

> sending to that area. One of their trucks was issued a ticket for being

225 pounds

> over the legal weight limit this week while passing through a weigh

station.

> You would think the Troopers would have some common sense about them with

> this. Good grief, that cop really needs to get a life!!!!

>

> Tater

>

> je.hill@... wrote:Ed, thank you for sharing this and your prior post

> with us. The general tendency for human nature under stress is to be

highly

> critical of others. " It is not enough, it isn't fast enough, we aren't

getting

> any help... " While there will be many more lessons learned on how to deal

with

> a crisis of this magnitude, we should all be careful not to spend too

much

> energy on criticizing and pointing fingers and instead, expend that

energy

on

> not only trying to continue to mitigate the process but start collecting

and

> collating the lessons learned and make sure that we do better next time.

God

> forbid there will be a next time, but there will be. Whether it will be a

> natural disaster or an act of terrorism or out and out war, we have no

way

to

> know. But this situation has shown many in all stages of government and

> emergency reponse which of the tabletop drills and plans work, which ones

don't, and

> should provide structure for development of newer and bigger plans

> for the protection of the American public in the future. It is

unfortunate

> that many of our Americans have had to suffer and will continue to suffer

(not

> counting the drain on resources and burden on the entire American

population

> for years to come), but no matter how much you plan, no matter how your

> plans are developed and which " experts " help lay the plan out, we were

still

> depending on human imagination and simulations to try and develop bigger

and

> better plans since 9/11. The media has only just begun showing the

massive

> response that is coming in now from the military, public and private

organizations,

> and surrounding states. It DOES take time to implement responses and part

of

> the problem seems to have been communications between the EOC's of the

> affected states and FEMA, surrounding state EOC's, and other groups. BUT,

we learn

> from mistakes - that is ALSO sometimes the ONLY way we humans learn (and

> sometimes not even then). So hopefully streamlining and integration of

> disaster plans will be the major topic for the future.

>

> Ways to look ahead include taking our RAC disaster plans for instance and

> ensuring that ALL other response agencies are involved with them and know

what

> we are going to do, we know what they are going to do, and plan ahead of

time

> on how to work together. Then correlating those plans with surrounding

RAC's

> and our state agencies is the next step so that we can fall in with them.

> And then comes the feds, and we have to develop our plans so we can

adequately

> and efficiently work with them.

> Unfortunately, hospitals and EMS folks sometimes forget that to mitigate

a

> large response in our home areas, we have to have plans in place to play

with

> EVERYONE and know who and what and how to get everyone that we need

promptly.

> One lesson learned from Katrina is that our state governments have to

call

> for federal help like the National Guard and other branches of the

military

> for natural disasters (if they forget, then the feds just can't send them

based

> on what they THINK they need). Our state governments have to not only

> implement their state plans but if the disaster is large, like in this

case, their

> EOC's have to immediately set up folks to work with state EOC's from as

many

> states as they feel they need to help them. And they have to continue to

> communicate with them and the feds or the process of getting much needed

aid bogs

> down.

>

> So there are a couple of issues here while we watch in awe the massive

> relief going on or, we actively participate if given the chance. One is

to

start

> working on our local plans to better correlate them with our COG's, our

county

> and city emergency management officials, our local fire services - ANYONE

> who might be involved. All players have to be at the table and work on

the

> plans TOGETHER or they JUST DON'T WORK. Then we need to take those

developed

> plans and work with our state DSHS and Emergency Management group, who

will be

> responsible for our State EOC in a large incident. THEY then should help

us

> correlate our plans with the government agencies. I think that was the

original

> intent of NIMS, but it has issues and will probable mutate as will once

this

> response has minimized and the future starts to be reviewed. But in our

> section of Texas, most EMS agencies and such have never heard of NIMS,

and

many

> individuals in our hospitals and RAC's and EMS services have not even

> begun to look at the possibilities and the potentially VERY big picture.

>

> Second, Ed pointed out that we need to look at these refugees coming into

> our own communities. We need to find ways to make that situation work for

THEM

> and FOR US. While many of these folks coming to our cities are innocents

who

> are really down on their luck, there are those mixed in who can prove to

be a

> strain on our resources including law enforcement. We the citizens of our

> cities and counties must look at this situation and get our churches and

RACs

> and everyone we can involved with mitigating the potential issues for US,

and

> trying to help these people as much as we reasonably can.

>

> There is plenty to do for everyone I think. I am sitting at home today

doing

> laundry waiting on what I will be assigned to do hopefully by our RAC or

> other agencies in our area to help mitigate the impact of the response on

the

> Big Country. I am anxious to see what our RAC has committed to the state

EOC

> and help with that if needed because that is the proper chain of command.

But

> my hat is definitely off to you Ed and all of the other relief workers,

> private, public, military, federal, whomever who have been able to go to

these

> states and actively help them. Please keep free from disease while you

are

there,

> and may God bless you all.

>

> Jane Hill

>

> -------------- Original message from emsbrando@...: --------------

>

> And another thing about the media. I wish they were with us in " Hell " .

Then

> they would have seen us giving water to all those who requested it and

MRE's

> as well. They could have seen me give my heater meal to an old man

holding

a

> peanut butter and jelly sandwich crying because that was all he had eaten

in

> three days, so I traded his sandwich for my heated chicken and noodles.

They

> would have seen us giving water to the nursing home patients at the

airport

> that were on baggage carts pulled by a tractor to their assigned areas.

And

> they

> would have seen us handing patients our personal cell phones once we

dialed

> the numbers of their family members because no one knew if they were

alive

> or

> not, and the tears of joy from a short conversation. I called family in

> Wisconsin, Georgia, Arkansas, Texas, California and other places to let

> families know

> that their loved ones were fine and were on the way to a shelter or

hospital

> somewhere. They would have seen us taking care of others in a way that

has

> nothing to do with being a paramedic but has everything to do with just

> being

> human. You wont see that on the news, but I will have that memory for the

> rest

> of my life. If that is all I have, so be it. I've spent my time in " hell "

> and would go back in a heartbeat.

>

> Ed Brando

>

September 5, 2005

I'll believe it! My Schwans man ain't never lied to

me!

Maxine

---- Original message ----

Date: Mon, 05 Sep 2005 20:38:06 -0500 (Central

Daylight Time)

Subject: Re: EMS Response to

Evacuation Centers

To:

>I can verify it happened because my dog's vet's

sister-in-law's cousin's

>proctologist heard it directly from the trooper's

uncle's mechanic's Schwann

>s man.

>And if that ain't the gospel I don't know what

is!

>

September 5, 2005

I do not know for sure where the ticket was issued, but it was highly insinuated

that it was Louisiana. I got the information from someone that is VERY CLOSE to

the incident. Close enough that I'd say with 100% certainty that it is true the

ticket was issued. I am not sure what state it was in, had to have been Texas,

Louisiana, or Mississippi. I do know that the feces will be scattered by the

oscillating electrical device before it will be said and done.

Tater

rachfoote@... wrote:

Not to be cynical but rumors have been so rampant, who actually can verify

that this happened?

Andy

In a message dated 9/5/2005 7:19:37 P.M. Central Standard Time,

wegandy1938@... writes:

Was this a Texas or a Louisiana trooper?

GG

> Unbelievable........

>

> Jane Hill

>

> -------------- Original message from " E. Tate " :

> --------------

>

> My understanding on the ticket is that is was issued in Louisiana........

> Sounds like that trooper needs to be reassigned to NOLA.

>

> Tater

>

> je.hill@... wrote:

> You have very good points all, . Thanks for the info and God bless

you

> and TFD for your efforts. And see if you can find a way to send the info

on

> that ticket to DPS chiefs in Austin. Somebody needs to say something

here....

> I realize the rules are there to protect the lifespan of our roads but

that

> is really unconscionable in my opinion.

>

> Jane Hill

>

> -------------- Original message from " E. Tate " : --------------

>

> Hello everyone,

>

> I've been dealing with the â€œsurvivorsâ€ most of today here in Tyler.

Calling

> a person a â€œrefugeeâ€ or an â€œevacueeâ€ is a negative statement and

causes

a

> sense of hopelessness. I say this because the Red Cross stressed to us

today

> that the one thing that will keep our â€œFriends from Louisianaâ€ upbeat is

> Hope. We must remember that when contacting them in any way, even on the

front

> lines. We must help them to maintain a sense of hope. Without hope, they

have

> nothing. With nothing, they will result to lawlessness and other negative

> means of communication and survivorship.

>

> In Tyler's disaster plan there are 3 designated shelters. As of Friday

night

> those were all full, just as Governor called saying there were an

> additional 1000 people coming to Tyler from the disaster areas. Our EOC

went into

> overdrive and designated a 4th shelter at UT-Tylerâ€™s Patriot Center and

> asked our church to oversee it. The first survivors arrived on Saturday,

less

> than 24 hours after our initial notification. We are planning for 6 â€“ 8

weeks

> possibly, we just do not know at this point. Our maximum capacity will be

240.

>

> UT has set up several computers with internet access. Volunteers are

> assisting these survivors in locating missing family members and letting

others know

> that they are safe. The website that is coordinating this effort is

located

> at http://www.familylinks.icrc.org/katrina/locate

>

> Several of the survivors here are trying to get to other areas of the

> country to join other family members. There is a huge dry erase board with

the

> names of the survivors, where they want to go, and the estimated cost of a

bus

> ticket. Our church is gathering donations to help with these things. If

you aren

> â€™t available to help in person (I.e. too far away from any of the

shelters)

> send money even if itâ€™s just a few dollars, donate blood, etc.

>

> If you are not called into action on the front lines with Alan, Ed, Meris,

> and the others that have been mentioned on this list, please offer to

> volunteer with the Red Cross. They need all kinds of help. Today I made

plans for an

> Engine Company to come to the shelter in my fire district and â€œentertainâ€

> the kids for a little while. You might think this is a trivial issue, but

try

> locking yourself in a small room several young children for 3 or 4 days

and

> see what you think then. Anything entertaining would be welcome. I bet

> Luther and his fellows could more than help with something like this

(hint,

> hint, hint). I am also working with a local Ice Cream manufacturer to

supply

> enough Ice Cream for these survivors so that they can enjoy the holiday

> tomorrow. One of the most important things is to help them maintain a

sense of

> normalcy.

>

> We have very close family friends in , Mississippi. They said there

> us substantial damage in that area. Every highway sign is gone and a large

> percentage of trees are down. A thought I had about this was, what if this

storm

> had made landfall in the Houston area? This would have assured great

> destruction as far north as Tyler.

>

> Mobilized and working in Tyler,

>

> Tater

>

> P.S. A note on the ridiculous side:

>

> hire Grocery Company here in Tyler is shipping food and water as

fast

> as they can to that area. They are donating the ice and water they are

> sending to that area. One of their trucks was issued a ticket for being

225 pounds

> over the legal weight limit this week while passing through a weigh

station.

> You would think the Troopers would have some common sense about them with

> this. Good grief, that cop really needs to get a life!!!!

>

> Tater

>

> je.hill@... wrote:Ed, thank you for sharing this and your prior post

> with us. The general tendency for human nature under stress is to be

highly

> critical of others. " It is not enough, it isn't fast enough, we aren't

getting

> any help... " While there will be many more lessons learned on how to deal

with

> a crisis of this magnitude, we should all be careful not to spend too much

> energy on criticizing and pointing fingers and instead, expend that energy

on

> not only trying to continue to mitigate the process but start collecting

and

> collating the lessons learned and make sure that we do better next time.

God

> forbid there will be a next time, but there will be. Whether it will be a

> natural disaster or an act of terrorism or out and out war, we have no way

to

> know. But this situation has shown many in all stages of government and

> emergency reponse which of the tabletop drills and plans work, which ones

don't, and

> should provide structure for development of newer and bigger plans

> for the protection of the American public in the future. It is unfortunate

> that many of our Americans have had to suffer and will continue to suffer

(not

> counting the drain on resources and burden on the entire American

population

> for years to come), but no matter how much you plan, no matter how your

> plans are developed and which " experts " help lay the plan out, we were

still

> depending on human imagination and simulations to try and develop bigger

and

> better plans since 9/11. The media has only just begun showing the massive

> response that is coming in now from the military, public and private

organizations,

> and surrounding states. It DOES take time to implement responses and part

of

> the problem seems to have been communications between the EOC's of the

> affected states and FEMA, surrounding state EOC's, and other groups. BUT,

we learn

> from mistakes - that is ALSO sometimes the ONLY way we humans learn (and

> sometimes not even then). So hopefully streamlining and integration of

> disaster plans will be the major topic for the future.

>

> Ways to look ahead include taking our RAC disaster plans for instance and

> ensuring that ALL other response agencies are involved with them and know

what

> we are going to do, we know what they are going to do, and plan ahead of

time

> on how to work together. Then correlating those plans with surrounding

RAC's

> and our state agencies is the next step so that we can fall in with them.

> And then comes the feds, and we have to develop our plans so we can

adequately

> and efficiently work with them.

> Unfortunately, hospitals and EMS folks sometimes forget that to mitigate a

> large response in our home areas, we have to have plans in place to play

with

> EVERYONE and know who and what and how to get everyone that we need

promptly.

> One lesson learned from Katrina is that our state governments have to call

> for federal help like the National Guard and other branches of the

military

> for natural disasters (if they forget, then the feds just can't send them

based

> on what they THINK they need). Our state governments have to not only

> implement their state plans but if the disaster is large, like in this

case, their

> EOC's have to immediately set up folks to work with state EOC's from as

many

> states as they feel they need to help them. And they have to continue to

> communicate with them and the feds or the process of getting much needed

aid bogs

> down.

>

> So there are a couple of issues here while we watch in awe the massive

> relief going on or, we actively participate if given the chance. One is to

start

> working on our local plans to better correlate them with our COG's, our

county

> and city emergency management officials, our local fire services - ANYONE

> who might be involved. All players have to be at the table and work on the

> plans TOGETHER or they JUST DON'T WORK. Then we need to take those

developed

> plans and work with our state DSHS and Emergency Management group, who

will be

> responsible for our State EOC in a large incident. THEY then should help

us

> correlate our plans with the government agencies. I think that was the

original

> intent of NIMS, but it has issues and will probable mutate as will once

this

> response has minimized and the future starts to be reviewed. But in our

> section of Texas, most EMS agencies and such have never heard of NIMS, and

many

> individuals in our hospitals and RAC's and EMS services have not even

> begun to look at the possibilities and the potentially VERY big picture.

>

> Second, Ed pointed out that we need to look at these refugees coming into

> our own communities. We need to find ways to make that situation work for

THEM

> and FOR US. While many of these folks coming to our cities are innocents

who

> are really down on their luck, there are those mixed in who can prove to

be a

> strain on our resources including law enforcement. We the citizens of our

> cities and counties must look at this situation and get our churches and

RACs

> and everyone we can involved with mitigating the potential issues for US,

and

> trying to help these people as much as we reasonably can.

>

> There is plenty to do for everyone I think. I am sitting at home today

doing

> laundry waiting on what I will be assigned to do hopefully by our RAC or

> other agencies in our area to help mitigate the impact of the response on

the

> Big Country. I am anxious to see what our RAC has committed to the state

EOC

> and help with that if needed because that is the proper chain of command.

But

> my hat is definitely off to you Ed and all of the other relief workers,

> private, public, military, federal, whomever who have been able to go to

these

> states and actively help them. Please keep free from disease while you are

there,

> and may God bless you all.

>

> Jane Hill

>

> -------------- Original message from emsbrando@...: --------------

>

> And another thing about the media. I wish they were with us in " Hell " . Then

> they would have seen us giving water to all those who requested it and

MRE's

> as well. They could have seen me give my heater meal to an old man holding

a

> peanut butter and jelly sandwich crying because that was all he had eaten

in

> three days, so I traded his sandwich for my heated chicken and noodles.

They

> would have seen us giving water to the nursing home patients at the airport

> that were on baggage carts pulled by a tractor to their assigned areas.

And

> they

> would have seen us handing patients our personal cell phones once we dialed

> the numbers of their family members because no one knew if they were alive

> or

> not, and the tears of joy from a short conversation. I called family in

> Wisconsin, Georgia, Arkansas, Texas, California and other places to let

> families know

> that their loved ones were fine and were on the way to a shelter or

hospital

> somewhere. They would have seen us taking care of others in a way that has

> nothing to do with being a paramedic but has everything to do with just

> being

> human. You wont see that on the news, but I will have that memory for the

> rest

> of my life. If that is all I have, so be it. I've spent my time in " hell " ,

> and would go back in a heartbeat.

>

> Ed Brando

>

September 6, 2005

The trucker needs to talk to the state highway department or highway patrol

ofice. Their was a declaration sent out last Tuesday or Wednesday from the

states/feds that some of the rules (including weight) were waived for those

responding to this emergency. They can provide the documentation that should

satisfy whatever powers that be.

Barry

Barry Sharp, MSHP, CHES

Exercise Coordinator

Community Preparedness Section

Texas Department of State Health Services

Phone: x2665

BlackBerry:

Fax:

Barry.Sharp@...

Re: EMS Response to Evacuation Centers

My understanding on the ticket is that is was issued in Louisiana........

Sounds like that trooper needs to be reassigned to NOLA.

Tater

je.hill@... wrote:

You have very good points all, . Thanks for the info and God bless you

and TFD for your efforts. And see if you can find a way to send the info on

that ticket to DPS chiefs in Austin. Somebody needs to say something

here.... I realize the rules are there to protect the lifespan of our roads

but that is really unconscionable in my opinion.

Jane Hill

-------------- Original message from " E. Tate " : --------------

Hello everyone,

I've been dealing with the " survivors " most of today here in Tyler. Calling

a person a " refugee " or an " evacuee " is a negative statement and causes a

sense of hopelessness. I say this because the Red Cross stressed to us today

that the one thing that will keep our " Friends from Louisiana " upbeat is

Hope. We must remember that when contacting them in any way, even on the

front lines. We must help them to maintain a sense of hope. Without hope,

they have nothing. With nothing, they will result to lawlessness and other

negative means of communication and survivorship.

In Tyler's disaster plan there are 3 designated shelters. As of Friday night

those were all full, just as Governor called saying there were an

additional 1000 people coming to Tyler from the disaster areas. Our EOC went

into overdrive and designated a 4th shelter at UT-Tyler's Patriot Center and

asked our church to oversee it. The first survivors arrived on Saturday,

less than 24 hours after our initial notification. We are planning for 6 - 8

weeks possibly, we just do not know at this point. Our maximum capacity will

be 240.

UT has set up several computers with internet access. Volunteers are

assisting these survivors in locating missing family members and letting

others know that they are safe. The website that is coordinating this effort

is located at http://www.familylinks.icrc.org/katrina/locate

Several of the survivors here are trying to get to other areas of the

country to join other family members. There is a huge dry erase board with

the names of the survivors, where they want to go, and the estimated cost of

a bus ticket. Our church is gathering donations to help with these things.

If you aren't available to help in person (I.e. too far away from any of the

shelters) send money even if it's just a few dollars, donate blood, etc.

If you are not called into action on the front lines with Alan, Ed, Meris,

and the others that have been mentioned on this list, please offer to

volunteer with the Red Cross. They need all kinds of help. Today I made

plans for an Engine Company to come to the shelter in my fire district and

" entertain " the kids for a little while. You might think this is a trivial

issue, but try locking yourself in a small room several young children for 3

or 4 days and see what you think then. Anything entertaining would be

welcome. I bet Luther and his fellows could more than help with

something like this (hint, hint, hint). I am also working with a local Ice

Cream manufacturer to supply enough Ice Cream for these survivors so that

they can enjoy the holiday tomorrow. One of the most important things is to

help them maintain a sense of normalcy.

We have very close family friends in , Mississippi. They said there

us substantial damage in that area. Every highway sign is gone and a large

percentage of trees are down. A thought I had about this was, what if this

storm had made landfall in the Houston area? This would have assured great

destruction as far north as Tyler.

Mobilized and working in Tyler,

Tater

P.S. A note on the ridiculous side:

hire Grocery Company here in Tyler is shipping food and water as fast

as they can to that area. They are donating the ice and water they are

sending to that area. One of their trucks was issued a ticket for being 225

pounds over the legal weight limit this week while passing through a weigh

station. You would think the Troopers would have some common sense about

them with this. Good grief, that cop really needs to get a life!!!!

Tater

je.hill@... wrote:Ed, thank you for sharing this and your prior post

with us. The general tendency for human nature under stress is to be highly

critical of others. " It is not enough, it isn't fast enough, we aren't

getting any help... " While there will be many more lessons learned on how to

deal with a crisis of this magnitude, we should all be careful not to spend

too much energy on criticizing and pointing fingers and instead, expend that

energy on not only trying to continue to mitigate the process but start

collecting and collating the lessons learned and make sure that we do better

next time. God forbid there will be a next time, but there will be. Whether

it will be a natural disaster or an act of terrorism or out and out war, we

have no way to know. But this situation has shown many in all stages of

government and emergency reponse which of the tabletop drills and plans

work, which ones don't, and should provide structure for development of

newer and bigger plans

for the protection of the American public in the future. It is unfortunate

that many of our Americans have had to suffer and will continue to suffer

(not counting the drain on resources and burden on the entire American

population for years to come), but no matter how much you plan, no matter

how your plans are developed and which " experts " help lay the plan out, we

were still depending on human imagination and simulations to try and develop

bigger and better plans since 9/11. The media has only just begun showing

the massive response that is coming in now from the military, public and

private organizations, and surrounding states. It DOES take time to

implement responses and part of the problem seems to have been

communications between the EOC's of the affected states and FEMA,

surrounding state EOC's, and other groups. BUT, we learn from mistakes -

that is ALSO sometimes the ONLY way we humans learn (and sometimes not even

then). So hopefully streamlining and integration of

disaster plans will be the major topic for the future.

Ways to look ahead include taking our RAC disaster plans for instance and

ensuring that ALL other response agencies are involved with them and know

what we are going to do, we know what they are going to do, and plan ahead

of time on how to work together. Then correlating those plans with

surrounding RAC's and our state agencies is the next step so that we can

fall in with them. And then comes the feds, and we have to develop our plans

so we can adequately and efficiently work with them.

Unfortunately, hospitals and EMS folks sometimes forget that to mitigate a

large response in our home areas, we have to have plans in place to play

with EVERYONE and know who and what and how to get everyone that we need

promptly. One lesson learned from Katrina is that our state governments have

to call for federal help like the National Guard and other branches of the

military for natural disasters (if they forget, then the feds just can't

send them based on what they THINK they need). Our state governments have to

not only implement their state plans but if the disaster is large, like in

this case, their EOC's have to immediately set up folks to work with state

EOC's from as many states as they feel they need to help them. And they have

to continue to communicate with them and the feds or the process of getting

much needed aid bogs down.

So there are a couple of issues here while we watch in awe the massive

relief going on or, we actively participate if given the chance. One is to

start working on our local plans to better correlate them with our COG's,

our county and city emergency management officials, our local fire services

- ANYONE who might be involved. All players have to be at the table and work

on the plans TOGETHER or they JUST DON'T WORK. Then we need to take those

developed plans and work with our state DSHS and Emergency Management group,

who will be responsible for our State EOC in a large incident. THEY then

should help us correlate our plans with the government agencies. I think

that was the original intent of NIMS, but it has issues and will probable

mutate as will once this response has minimized and the future starts to be

reviewed. But in our section of Texas, most EMS agencies and such have never

heard of NIMS, and many individuals in our hospitals and RAC's and EMS

services have not even

begun to look at the possibilities and the potentially VERY big picture.

Second, Ed pointed out that we need to look at these refugees coming into

our own communities. We need to find ways to make that situation work for

THEM and FOR US. While many of these folks coming to our cities are

innocents who are really down on their luck, there are those mixed in who

can prove to be a strain on our resources including law enforcement. We the

citizens of our cities and counties must look at this situation and get our

churches and RACs and everyone we can involved with mitigating the potential

issues for US, and trying to help these people as much as we reasonably can.

There is plenty to do for everyone I think. I am sitting at home today doing

laundry waiting on what I will be assigned to do hopefully by our RAC or

other agencies in our area to help mitigate the impact of the response on

the Big Country. I am anxious to see what our RAC has committed to the state

EOC and help with that if needed because that is the proper chain of

command. But my hat is definitely off to you Ed and all of the other relief

workers, private, public, military, federal, whomever who have been able to

go to these states and actively help them. Please keep free from disease

while you are there, and may God bless you all.

Jane Hill

-------------- Original message from emsbrando@...: --------------

And another thing about the media. I wish they were with us in " Hell " . Then

they would have seen us giving water to all those who requested it and MRE's

as well. They could have seen me give my heater meal to an old man holding a

peanut butter and jelly sandwich crying because that was all he had eaten in

three days, so I traded his sandwich for my heated chicken and noodles. They

would have seen us giving water to the nursing home patients at the airport

that were on baggage carts pulled by a tractor to their assigned areas. And

they

would have seen us handing patients our personal cell phones once we dialed

the numbers of their family members because no one knew if they were alive

or

not, and the tears of joy from a short conversation. I called family in

Wisconsin, Georgia, Arkansas, Texas, California and other places to let

families know

that their loved ones were fine and were on the way to a shelter or hospital

somewhere. They would have seen us taking care of others in a way that has

nothing to do with being a paramedic but has everything to do with just

being

human. You wont see that on the news, but I will have that memory for the

rest

of my life. If that is all I have, so be it. I've spent my time in " hell " ,

and would go back in a heartbeat.

Ed Brando

September 6, 2005