Tag Archives: Katrina

Katrina Can Be Our Lesson. For Some of Us – Without Oxygen, We Are Dried Out Old Toast

The Katrina Photos belong to Pamela O’Flynn, RRT, MBA Respiratory Care Department Director, Harrison Medical Center. I copied a few of them with my digital camera and am showing them here. They are stark yet show the shared bonding of people sharing the same vivid experience of no supplies, no help and patients looking for assistance and medical supplies.

Picture Pam’s Katrina hit hospital here in her photo as one of our hospitals after an earthquake – Harrison Medical Center or any hospital. Harrison is lucky to have Pam’s experience – and Anne Brown too – to lead their preparedness thanks to their hospital experience with Katrina.

I’d like to see the Kitsap Sun partner with Pam and Harrison Medical Center and our oxygen companies for an Emergency Town Hall Seminar and video tape it for those citizens who can’t get there in person. The people need to understand and put together emergency plan and be prepared for the earthquake we know is coming or any emergency where we must be self sustaining for at least 72 hours..

Folks on supplemental oxygen need a plan too – without oxygen, we’re yesterday’s stale toast.

Above is the old generator…that didn’t work until some talented person fixed it and it ran the hospital and the new one failed.

A brand new generator flown in to the hospital by helicopter – donated by a Texan. I knew Texas was home to world class quarter horses and we know Texas is a big state – now we know Texas people have a heart as big as the great outdoors too.

Thank you, Angela Dice, you are not only a good writer – you know computer stuff too! Brian Lewis, Kitsap Sun Web Programmer fixed my photo woes! Thank you both! It worked, Brian – here they are.

More later… Sharon O’Hara

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Kitsap’s JELLY ROLL BLUES – Part Two: Smiles, Giggles, Tears at Harrison’s Emergency Preparedness BB Meeting

Sharon O'Hara

Kitsap’s JELLY ROLL BLUES – Part Two: Smiles, Giggles, Tears at Harrison’s Emergency Preparedness BB Meeting

We live in earthquake country. We’ve jellied to varying degrees in the past and no doubt will again in the future. So far we haven’t had a quake over magnitude 7.0 and that was in 1949.

More jelly jiggles and Shake, Rattle and Roll are in store for Kitsap County and surrounds. What are we doing to prepare to take care of ourselves at least 72 hours?

Another quake or natural disaster – such as the last freeze and two day power outage in Silverdale is coming. I don’t want to repeat the last one where everything we counted on, failed, including the generator and we lived inside where the temperature dropped to 40 degrees over the two days without heat or bi-pap and concentrator.

Smiles, Giggles, Tears at Harrison’s Emergency Preparedness BB Meeting

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“Earthquake activity:

Kitsap County-area historical earthquake activity is slightly above Washington state average. It is 235% greater than the overall U.S. average.

On 4/13/1949 at 19:55:42, a magnitude 7.0 (7.0 UK, Class: Major, Intensity: VIII – XII) earthquake occurred 26.2 miles away from the county center, causing $80,000,000 total damage

On 2/28/2001 at 18:54:32, a magnitude 6.8 (6.5 MB, 6.6 MS, 6.8 MW, Depth: 32.2 mi, Class: Strong, Intensity: VII – IX) earthquake occurred 36.5 miles away from the county center, causing $2,000,000,000 total damage and $305,000,000 insured losses

On 4/29/1965 at 15:28:43, a magnitude 6.6 (6.6 UK) earthquake occurred 25.1 miles away from the county center, causing $28,000,000 total damage

On 7/3/1999 at 01:43:54, a magnitude 5.8 (5.4 MB, 5.5 MS, 5.8 MW, 5.3 ME, Depth: 25.2 mi, Class: Moderate, Intensity: VI – VII) earthquake occurred 47.5 miles away from Kitsap County center

On 5/3/1996 at 04:04:22, a magnitude 5.5 (5.2 MB, 5.3 MD, 5.5 ML, Depth: 2.5 mi) earthquake occurred 44.2 miles away from the county center

On 2/14/1981 at 06:09:27, a magnitude 5.5 (5.1 MB, 4.8 MS, 5.5 ML) earthquake occurred 84.8 miles away from the county center

Magnitude types: body-wave magnitude (MB), duration magnitude (MD), energy magnitude (ME), local magnitude (ML), surface-wave magnitude (MS), moment magnitude (MW)”

A few key points from the outstanding and powerful program put on by Pamela O’Flynn, RRT, MBA Respiratory Care Department, Harrison Medical Center and the American Lung Association’s, Better Breathers (BB) caught my attention. For a super reference booklet – get the 12-month Preparedness Calendar for the full story.

Contact your local hotels/motels for their pet policy. Next time, should the generator fail us again, we’ll pack up the dogs and head for a dog friendly hotel and drag the bi-pap and concentrator along.

We were told to pack what we generally eat for our 72 hour Comfort Kit – the total opposite of what I used to pack and take in the mountains during the old horse packing and hiking years. Food that was lightweight, easy to cook and nutritious for the weight was key in what I chose for such trips…not necessarily what I ate at home.

The difference will show up in our bodily functions – “Eat what the body is used to…” And the interesting Poo Bags were mentioned.

The go anywhere toilet kit includes:

Waste bag pre-loaded with Poo Powder gelling deodorizing agent.
Outer zip-close disposal bag.
Natural odor control and decay catalyst
1 hand sanitizer
1 toilet paper

I bought mine online at REI, but they are probably sold locally at any of the sports stores.

Our homes should be earthquake proofed including anchoring furniture to the walls. Laura Jull, CEM, CHSP, Emergency Preparedness Coordinator at Harrison Medical Center, uses Museum Wax to anchor down small items to the shelf.

600 thousand pets were never found or missing after Katrina – no one was prepared for the magnitude of the storm. A lesson learned there carries over here…and provisions are being made for our pets in case of a disaster.

For those on oxygen, bi-pap, c-pap or concentrators, register to be on a Special Needs list and shelter. Contact the Fire Department and get on the Power Company list.

Contact your Oxygen Company and ask what provisions they have in place for their clients during a disaster.

Additional information and to get your 12-month Preparedness Calendar:

‘Our Better Breathers support group meets ~~quarterly~~ monthly in the Rose room at Harrison Silverdale. Please call 360-744-6685 for dates and information. ‘ http://www.harrisonmedical.org/home/calendar/4885

Sheriff Boyer is Kitsap County’s emergency coordinator – I hope he/department will see Pam’s Katrina slide presentation and get her viewpoints based on her real life experiences working in a hospital so badly affected during and after Katrina – as were they all badly affected. Her hard earned insight should prove helpful for that day coming in our future….in my opinion.

I am still unable to get the photos here from this computer … later

More later… Sharon O’Hara

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Smiles, Giggles, Tears at Harrison’s Emergency Preparedness BB Meeting

Sharon O'Hara

Greetings: What I thought would be an easy chat about the need for patients to prepare for a natural disaster has turned out quite the opposite and it won’t be done in one blog post. This is part One of Two.

Kitsap County got lucky. Pamela O’Flynn, RRT, MBA Respiratory Care Department Director, Harrison Medical Center has firsthand experience what happens when we’re not prepared for a disaster. She is a whirlwind force fighting to get all of us prepared as best we can – NOW.

Harrison Respiratory Center’s Emergency Preparedness meeting on Wednesday, 19 January was the most intense learning experience I’ve had in years. We alternated tears, laughter, even giggles when Pam tried to look disheveled as she shuffled along the wall demonstrating how the exhausted medical staff moved and worked during the Katrina natural disaster and the weeks and months following the good, bad and ugly aftermath of a storm and disaster no one was prepared for as Pam, along with others, lost her home 40 miles inland from the hurricane storm surge.

The good was the bonding of the medical staff and all who worked for the common cause of helping others without supplies to do it.

We sat shocked, saddened and teary as Pam described why Emergency Preparedness was vital for our survival here and briefly described how, during the horrific Katrina disaster they were not prepared for the scope of the disaster. Pam described how oxygen patients came to the hospital asking for oxygen and she was forced to turn them away knowing their fate without it. The hospital ran out of what they had…no one was prepared…they didn’t know anything could turn out so badly. They learned from it and that experience will help us here, now.

We got firsthand glimpses of a hospital and medical providers under siege and unimaginable duress.

On the flip side we got glimpses of powerful bonds forged out of desperate need and innovative creative means to help patients.

Laura Jull, CEM, CHSP Emergency Preparedness Coordinator at Harrison Medical Center was full of vital information and came prepared with essential handouts, including al 12-Month Preparedness Calendar Courtesy of Washington State Emergency Management Division http://www.emd.wa.gov/ –

Contact respiratorycare@harrisonmedical.org for the packets and specific information.

For starters sign up for emergency alerts and newsletter:

https://www.piersystem.com/go/site/1082/

Kitsap County Department of Emergency Management

KCDEM’s Alert and Warning Sign-Up Page

Following are a few photos.

Hopefully my desktop will work smoothly from here on out – thanks to my husband, the Old Guy. He spent the past two days trying to get it to work.

More later, including the photos I couldn’t get in… Sharon O’Hara

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