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Database of Health Workforce Innovations

682
ID
682
IMERT Deployment to Baton Rouge, Louisiana in Response to Hurricane Katrina, September 2005
Created
2020-08-28 11:03:03
Created by
Josh Goutte
Updated by
Josh Goutte
Update time
2020-08-28 11:03:03
The Illinois Medical Emergency Response Team (IMERT) is a volunteer organization that initially was developed in 1999 and is considered an asset of the State of Illinois, under the authority of the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH). At any given time 8 teams are on call throughout the state. A standard team includes physicians, registered nurses (RNs), emergency medical technicians (EMT-Bs) and paramedics (EMT-Ps), as well as allied health professionals with expertise in communications, safety, and logistics.

Team members are required to take 2 weeks of call every 6 months, and the on-call team is designated to respond in Illinois only. On-call team members are required to be available within 4 hours when activated by the director of the IDPH. Each team member is expected to respond to a deployment by bringing personal supplies to last at least 3 days, including uniforms, food, and water. Patient care equipment packages are supplied and maintained by IMERT.

Each team member is expected to respond to a deployment by bringing personal supplies to last at least 3 days.

Within 36 hours of notification of deployment, the first response IMERT arrived on the campus of Louisiana State University (LSU) at Baton Rouge. This team included 2 medical doctors (1 emergency physician and 1 trauma surgeon) and 5 RNs

the team joined an existing emergency center located in the Pete Maravich Athletic Center (PMAC) on the LSU campus, the field hospital was not used, although most supplies were. The other 2 trucks hauled the teams' personal bags, food, water, cots, as well as IMERT equipment packages. The equipment packages contain a wide variety of gear that is necessary to sustain a medical response for at least 72 hours. This equipment is prepackaged and staged at various locations around the state.
In all, 51 IMERT members were deployed to Baton Rouge; 36 were RNs, 3 were medical doctors, and the remainder were paramedics and EMTs.
  • Other
  • Nurses - Licensed Practical
  • Nurses - Registered
  • Paramedics
  • Physicians - Emergency
  • Physicians - Intensive Care
  • Physicians - Primary/Family
  • Physicians - Specialists
  • Other Health Care Workers
Hurricane Katrina, a category 4 storm, struck the Gulf coast region of the United States on August 29, 2005. It made landfall near New Orleans, Louisiana. The devastation resulting from wind, rain, and flooding was found across a 90,000 square mile region. Particularly hard hit was the city of New Orleans when the levy system that had protected the city from Lake Ponchartrain was breeched, causing massive flooding. A large number of local residents who lived in the affected area had to be evacuated. Thousands found their way to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the nearest large metropolitan area north of New Orleans.
  • Critical Care
  • Emergency Medical Services
  • Hospitals
  • Urban/Suburban
An unambiguous chain of command with clear standards of patient care and accountability were established. The USPHS staff conducted a needs assessment every 8 hours, and specific assignments were assigned based on the needs identified. would have been i
Literally hundreds of ambulances from all across the United States had converged on the New Orleans area to shuttle ill survivors and injured rescue workers away. There was no method for communicating with the field hospital, and medics just kept bringing
Formal Strategy
Connelly, M. (2006). IMERT deployment to Baton Rouge, Louisiana in response to hurricane Katrina, September 2005. Disaster Management & Response, 4(1), 4-11.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dmr.2005.10.005
Mary Connelly
Illinois College of Emergency Physicians
United States
USA
English
Published Literature

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