Response to Hurricanes Katrina

1
Response to Hurricanes Katrina Rita Lessons
Learned

• 2006 Midyear Joint Meeting of the
• Managers Committee and Council of Medical
  Directors
• February 7, 2005
• Our Gulf Coast Poison Control Centers TX, LA,
  MS, AL, FL

2
Overview

• Hurricane Katrina
• 11th named tropical storm of 2005
• 5th hurricane
• 1st Category 5
• 6th-strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded

3
Timeline

• Monday 29 August landfall in Louisiana
• Tuesday 30 August flooding in New Orleans
• NACCT 9-14 September 2005
• Friday 9 September CDC request for Gulf Coast
  Reporting

4
Methodology

• Al Bronstein, MD Acting Associate Director
  Toxicosurveillance
• Jay Schauben, PharmD, Director Florida (Miami)
  PCC
• Work with Florida Dept. of Public Health

5
US PCC Staff

• At NACCT CDC and AAPCC conference call to ID
  of substances of interest

6
Methodology

• ID of substances of interest
• Carbon monoxide
• Contaminated water
• Food poisoning
• Snake bites
• Gasoline (siphoning)

7
Geography

• Gulf Coast centers
• Louisiana
• Mississippi
• Alabama
• Texas
• Florida

8
Methodology

• Twice-daily report generation for CDC
• Case summaries
• Case Logs (lineitems)

9
Outcome

• Automated report generation using TESS
  application
• Flexibility in adding/changing centers for
  Ophelia Rita
• Situational awareness for CDC/USPHS (e.g. DMAT)
  deployments
• Toxicosurveillance
• Based on INCREASED volume
• What if no one calls?

10
Rita

• September 21
• Houston (Galveston)
• Routing of all Southeast TX (Galveston) calls to
  West Texas (El Paso)
• Toxicosurveillance what if everyone calls?
• Triple call volume
• All volume alerts triggered

11
Future

• New core database application
• Reporting services
• Toxicosurveillance definitions
• Thank you!