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Wreck Aftermath City's disaster response By George
Schwarz The emergency system's response to an 80-vehicle pileup on Interstate 40 on Dec. 22 that resulted in one death and several injuries wasn't without problems. And, the parts of the response that need improvement, which were discussed at a nonpublic meeting of the city and participating agencies Friday at the Civic Center, will be part of a report to be made available in about 60 days. After-event debriefings are not usually open to the media, said Kevin Starbuck, Amarillo-Potter-Randall Department of Emergency Management coordinator. "Having the media there might stifle some of the conversation and issues we might or might not need to address," he said. Several of those present at the meeting Friday confirmed that the response on the scene was exemplary, but that problems did arise. For example, Coffee Memorial Blood Center was not notified of the accident and of the potential for injuries requiring blood, said Coffee President and CEO Dr. Jim Rutledge. "It's another area where we can do better," Rutledge said. "After direct conversations with Dr. Rush Pierce and City Manager Alan Taylor, I am confident this problem will be fixed." The center has the ability to bring blood from other centers and to call in donors during a mass casualty event. Northwest Texas Healthcare System was prepared to receive patients because it got word of the pileup early. One of its employees, the hospital's trauma manager, works for the Amarillo Fire Department, said Chief Executive Officer Frank Lopez. "Because of her being on duty with the fire department that day, she is the one who notified us," he said. The hospital, which is the community's major trauma center, also runs the ambulance service. The hospital had another source for knowing about the crash — calls for ambulances, said Dr. Nathan Goldstein III, Northwest's chief medical officer. The emergency department was dealing with about 50 accident victims, 20 of whom were from the I-40 pileup. The hospital had 13 vehicles from AMS, the ambulance service, on the scene. AMS generally deploys from five to seven vehicles around the community, he said. "We had a phenomenal response. They got out there pretty quickly because, I know, they and fire were having trouble getting to the front of the accident, and as they were out there they were hearing accidents occurring behind them," Goldstein said. "I can tell you from the hospital side and from the ambulance side, it went extremely well." But not perfectly. Only one orthopaedic surgeon is on call for both hospitals, Northwest and Baptist St. Anthony's Health System, and the doctor on call that day was Keith D. Bjork. Bjork said he was lucky that another orthopaedic surgeon, Dr. Douglass Y. Hyde, was in the hospital at the time and was willing to stay and help with the six or seven cases. Bjork said the episode could have gone better in the hospital if the hospital had brought in more support personnel — orderlies and techs to expedite the movement of patients into the operating rooms and to expedite the cleaning of the rooms. "It's just the nature of the beast," he said, referring to how hospitals handle mass casualty events. Two of the cases were severe and were sent to Lubbock by helicopter because of the nature of their injuries, he said. "We had one guy with multiple long bone injuries and one lady with that horrible open elbow injury," he said. Overall, Bjork said, Northwest did well. So did the rest of the responders, said Vicki Richmond, executive director of the Red Cross chapter. "It was just nit-picking stuff, but it wasn't like some big catastrophe that I was aware of," she said, adding that her agency found some areas where they can improve their response. "It usually boils down to improved communications or those kinds of things. You never, you never — no matter how hard you try — are going to have it perfect," she said. E-mail
comments about this story Posted: January 10, 2008
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