COUNTYWIDE : Equipping Physicians for Disaster

Before a major catastrophe hits Orange County, Dr. Robert Bade hopes, physicians throughout the county will be armed with backpacks and able to perform surgery on the spot, and fire stations will be equipped to serve as satellite hospitals.

Bade co-founded the Medical Disaster Response program, which trains emergency physicians to treat victims in the field. It also establishes local fire stations as bases for emergency treatment.

So far, the program has trained 37 of the county’s emergency physicians to use $2,500 backpacks that each hold enough equipment to treat four to six critically injured people, including surgeries. Funding, however, is not yet available to equip all the doctors with the backpacks, which they will carry in their car trunks.

“We have enough highly skilled medical people throughout Orange County that with a little bit of extra training and some strategic stockpiling of supplies, they can care for the critically injured until the major medical relief can arrive,” Bade said.

Orange will be the first city to participate in the program, Mayor Don E. Smith announced. The city will buy four $7,500 medical kits that each contain enough supplies for a specially trained physician to care for 25 critically injured people who can’t reach a hospital. Although details have not yet been finalized, Smith said the supplies will most likely be stored in the city’s fire stations.

The Orange County Fire Department has budgeted for seven of the supply kits, said Janice Turner, paramedic services coordinator.

“When the big earthquake hits, we’re not going to be operating under conventional methods,” Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez said. “You’re not going to be able to pick up the phone and dial 911, and doctors will not be able to drive to their hospitals to treat the injured. The more we can do to prepare doctors to treat those injuries that are so prevalent in an earthquake, the better chance we will have of saving many lives.

“This is going to be very important for areas like Coto de Caza (that) are located away from medical facilities but have a number of doctors who reside in their community. By having the equipment in their local fire stations, residents will be able to receive initial trauma treatment that is critical in saving lives.”

Participating doctors receive two days of training on using the medical supply kits to treat the maximum number of people, Bade said.

Ninety-five percent of all earthquake survivors are found and treated within the first 24 hours, he noted. After that, the injuries begin to take their toll. But it takes about 72 hours for rescue workers from outside the quake zone to arrive, set up mobile hospitals and airlift casualties, he said.

“Those people with a crushed limb or extensive injuries are going to die before 72 hours,” said Bade. “The first 24 hours are critical, and they can’t be wasted rummaging around for supplies. These physicians have to know right where to go to get them.”

With the proper supplies, he said, doctors “can be operational almost instantaneously wherever we are when the big one hits. Without the equipment, we’re useless.”

In June, the County Board of Supervisors approved a $45,000 grant to the Society of Orange County Emergency Physicians to continue the program.

“It’s an innovative program that has been quietly developing. Its real value will not be apparent until the big one strikes,” Vasquez said.

Bade said that he has statements of intent from officials in Mission Viejo, Dana Point, Brea and Yorba Linda to acquire the $7,500 medical supply kits for their communities. By the end of the year, he expects to have 25 of the kits throughout Orange County.