An Occupational Medical Physician in the Haiti Disaster Response

Abstract

Overall, the occupational medicine role was essential in the conduct and completion of the NDMS mission. The Public Health Service had anticipated much of the preventive medicine role, and pre- and postdeployment medical concerns were well addressed. The operational role on scene, however, was not fully appreciated by the management of IMSURT, which was not familiar with the DMAT role and provided only limited support. The DMAT teams, however, fully understood the issues, and in the opinion of the author, if the DMAT had been placed in operational control with the IMSURT as an embedded surgical hospital, many of the occupational and logistical problems could have been solved. Without preventive medicine and occupational health, the success of any disaster response team is in jeopardy.