Volunteer
KY-1 DMAT
Recent deployments
Aug. 31, 2005
The St. Luke Hospitals’ Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) KY-1 deployed a medical strike team to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. This advanced team consisted of five doctors, nurses and health professionals. They were deployed to a holding area near the border of Mississippi and Tennessee waiting for the hurricane to pass. After the storm passed and the damage was assessed, the team received an assignment. The full team was on standby at their home base in Northern Kentucky.
Sept. 3, 2005
The St. Luke Hospitals’ Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) KY-1 deployed its full 35–member medical team to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. This team consists of doctors, nurses and health professionals. The team departed The St. Luke Hospital West and headed to Baton Rouge.
They were deployed for two weeks. The team provided emergency medical care and helped determine the medical needs of the disaster area. In addition, this mission involved taking care of evacuated patients from uninhabitable medical facilities.
Additional information about the KY-1 DMAT
KY-1 DMAT is based at St. Luke Hospital West in Florence.
“The DMAT team can deliver emergency and definitive medical care, working in a ‘hand-off’ zone to medically stabilize and treat victims for transport to an appropriate facility," says David McClure, RN, unit commander for the DMAT KY-1 team. “What makes this team unique is our ability to be self-sustained for shelter, electricity, food and supplies in order to do our job in a disaster area. We are one of only a few teams nationwide with this ability.”
The KY-1 DMAT team was formed in 1985 as a local team but has since been deployed to various disasters including Hurricanes Andrew, Iniki, Marilyn, Charley, Ivan, Frances and George; the New York ice storm in 1998; and the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, GA. Locally, the team has responded to the BASF explosion in Cincinnati, the Simon Kentucky High School Explosion in Independence, KY and the 1997 Ohio Valley floods.
Individual team members have also responded to the Los Alamos fires, the 2001 presidential inauguration, the Houston floods and the World Trade Center disaster.
All members of the team are volunteers who can respond within 12 to 24 hours to an alert for activation. The KY-1 DMAT team is part of the National Disaster Medical System and functions under Emergency Support No.8 of the Federal Response Plan.
Individuals interested in becoming members of the KY-1 DMAT team may call 859-212-4400. Clinical (doctors, nurses, etc.) and nonclinical professionals are needed. Applicants will be required to complete paperwork and attend training sessions.
"The team would have never been formed and could not exist today without the help from The St. Luke Hospitals," says McClure. "Much of the funding for the DMAT team comes from The St. Luke Hospital Community Foundation."
The funds from the Foundation are used for training and support activities to maintain a quality team. If you would like to make a tax-deductible monetary donation to KY-1 DMAT, send a contribution to:
DMAT
St. Luke Community Foundation
85 N. Grand Ave.
Fort Thomas, KY 41075
You will receive a thank-you letter for your tax files.