Live Chat from Haiti – hopefully

February 19th, 2010 | Category: Feature | 3 comments

: Image via Wikipedia

If all technical issues align correctly, Doc Gurley will be taking part in a live chat/webinar from Haiti TONIGHT at 8PM EST, 5PM Pacific Time along with Dr. Enoch Choi. The talk is organized by HCPLive. You will get the chance to ask questions as well as hear them talk about the challenges of providing relief in this setting. Please note – this chat is being organized by a professional healthcare organization but is open to all. You have to register in advance! So go to this location: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/379351224 and sign up!

This will be at the end of a long day providing direct relief in Port Au Prince. The team is literally treating hundreds of people per day.

Kellie

February 19, 2010 at 12:27 pm · Reply

Great idea and interesting that you are doing this. Hope all connections work.

Adele Louise

February 28, 2010 at 3:20 pm · Reply

I have a brief comment on Doc Gurley’s reportage on the Chilean earthquake and what we should do to prepare. I did not see any mention of the myriad FEMA/CERT Disaster Preparedness programs which exist in San Francisco (San Francisco NERT Neighborhood Emergency Response Training),
Oakland CORE (Communities of Oakland Respond to Emergencies), Berkeley CERT, Alameda CERT, as well as similar programs in El Cerrito, Contra Costa County, Marin County, and many other areas. I have been a member of Oakland CORE since its inception in 1990 and can not recommend these programs enough. The CORE program, as do many of the other programs, consists of a series of classes starting with Family and Personal Preparedness which teaches how and what each person/family needs to do for themselves such as what to do before a disaster occurs, what to have on hand for the aftermath, how to make sure one’s resi-
dence is a secured environment, and much more; the second class deals with neighborhood organization — setting up an Incident Command Center, choosing an Incident Commander, setting up teams for damage assessment, search and rescue, disaster first aid (triage), communications, etc.; the third is a set of six classes — Incident Command Center organization, damage assessment and mitigation, communications (two way radios), fire suppression, cribbing, and disaster first aid, which, upon completion, is followed by a hands-on exercise where the participants have a chance to practice what they have learned. There is a graduation ceremony where participants are given their hard hats and vests along with their certificate of completion. In Oakland, over 18,000 people have been trained in neighborhoods throughout the city. I cannot recommend these programs enough. It is one thing to read the tips put out by various organizations, and the valuable info which you provided, but it is quite another to actively participate in such a program as CORE or NERT where entire neighborhoods train together. I urge all who read this to get involved.

Thanks for all your information.