Retired Claremont Nurse Aids With Hurricane Disaster Relief

CLAREMONT, CA — A retired nurse practitioner from Claremont, California, Susan Lominska, has returned home after assisting the federal medical response to Hurricane Michael as part of the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS).

Lominska serves as a member of an NDMS Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT).

NDMS is a federal program that can support communities with medical care, veterinary care, and mortuary assistance during disasters or public health emergencies at the request of states; NDMS is among the resources made available by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR).

“ASPR moved about 400 medical and public health personnel, along with their caches of medical equipment, into impacted areas,” NDMS Acting Director Ron Miller said. “Most of our DMAT personnel augmented medical care at overwhelmed emergency departments in the Florida Panhandle. Other medical personnel coordinated with Urban Search and Rescue teams to triage people rescued or provided basic medical care for evacuees at shelters.

During the response, NDMS personnel treated more than 6,000 patients and were involved in approximately 2,800 patient transports. NDMS efforts to help residents of Florida continued until the state no longer needed the support.

NDMS comprises approximately 5,000 physicians, nurses, veterinary staff, paramedics, fatality management professionals, and experienced command and control staff, organized into more than 70 response teams. When an emergency overwhelms local and state resources, ASPR looks to the expertise within NDMS from across the country to assist in the response. Although they hail from communities nationwide, when deployed they are federal government employees working as part of a coordinated federal response.

To learn more about HHS’ response to the 2018 hurricanes, please visit: www.phe.gov

Press Release

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