Delegates Chart Academy's Course in Disaster Planning
By Leslie Champlin
• AAFP Assembly San Francisco
9/29/2005
The AAFP Congress of Delegates acted Sept. 27 to help ensure that family physicians’ expertise would be at the heart of future disaster relief efforts. By calling for the Academy to work with appropriate agencies to optimize use of volunteer health professionals, including family physicians, the delegates signaled their support of the many FPs who recently leapt at the chance to help patients in need. For example:
- Michael O’Dell, M.D., of Tupelo, Miss., coordinated an emergency clinic that efficiently responded to medical needs of Hurricane Katrina evacuees.
- Dima Ali, M.D., of Reston, Va., delivered medical supplies and provided medical expertise for five days immediately after the storm struck.
- Residents and faculty from the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, organized relays of teams who drove to the Gulf Coast to provide medical care to newly homeless people.
FP Harold Ishler, M.D., of Baton Rouge, La., talks about the plight of Louisiana family physicians in the Sept. 25 town hall meeting at Assembly. Later, in the Congress, he agreed that the disaster response system must streamline the volunteer process and enable FPs to care for disaster victims in their own communities.
Throughout the havoc wrought by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, these and hundreds of other family physicians demonstrated the vital role FPs play in meeting patients’ needs in chaotic situations.
Capitalizing on FPs
Now the AAFP will work to ensure that local, state and federal responses to disasters capitalize on family physicians’ organizational and medical expertise. The Academy’s efforts will stem from a late resolution introduced by the Louisiana AFP. The resolution calls on the Academy to work with state and federal agencies to “develop guidelines that appropriately allow coordination of rescue efforts to maximize use of volunteer personnel, including America’s family physicians.”
Recommendations put forth by (then) AAFP President Mary Frank, M.D., of Mill Valley, Calif., augment the resolution. In her address to the Congress on Monday, Frank recommended that the AAFP investigate development of a database listing members willing to help colleagues care for patients in disasters. Such a database could allow immediate credentialing of FPs who sign up as volunteers in advance.
“What if these changes could be formalized for the future so that those who wish to serve could serve?” she asked the delegates.
Recommendations put forth by (then) AAFP President Mary Frank, M.D., of Mill Valley, Calif., augment the resolution. In her address to the Congress on Monday, Frank recommended that the AAFP investigate development of a database listing members willing to help colleagues care for patients in disasters. Such a database could allow immediate credentialing of FPs who sign up as volunteers in advance.
“What if these changes could be formalized for the future so that those who wish to serve could serve?” she asked the delegates.
Louisiana Perspective
Delegate Harold Ishler, M.D., of Baton Rouge, La., agreed that the disaster response system must streamline the volunteer process and enable FPs to care for disaster victims in their own communities.
“We ran into big problems with physicians wanting to help with Hurricane Katrina victims,” said Ishler. “There’s a strong need to identify physicians to call on. We had some members who were turned away from their own shelters because they didn’t have the right FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) card.”
Frank also recommended the Academy investigate an adopt-a-practice program to help FPs re-establish their practices after a disaster.
“We ran into big problems with physicians wanting to help with Hurricane Katrina victims,” said Ishler. “There’s a strong need to identify physicians to call on. We had some members who were turned away from their own shelters because they didn’t have the right FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) card.”
Frank also recommended the Academy investigate an adopt-a-practice program to help FPs re-establish their practices after a disaster.
