LENOIR, NC (September 15, 2018) — Ambulances, including one from Caldwell County Emergency Service’s EMS Division have been activated at the request of North Carolina’s State Emergency Operations Center for Hurricane Florence.
One ambulance, a command vehicle and 3 team members from Caldwell County EMS have been deployed as a portion of an Ambulance Strike Team (AST) and are currently stationed in Kinston North Carolina to assist in the evacuations and function in support of the Mobile Disaster Hospital (MDH). In addition to the ambulance and crew, an AST Leader has also been deployed from Caldwell County EMS. Additional ambulances and personnel are on standby ready to travel and immediately assist in emergency response efforts following the hurricane.
“Our AST members are well equipped, experienced technicians and are excited to be able to assist the citizens and teams in the Eastern portion of our State,” said Chief of Caldwell County Emergency Services, Dino DiBernardi. “The ambulance strike team is tasked with transporting patients to hospitals after being seen at the MDH and also return patients to home and facilities after being seen. We will assist with evacuations of patients if necessary and remain in the area to the support the existing emergency services in the region.”
The FEMA resource typing definition of an Ambulance Strike Team is a group of five ambulances of the same type, either Advanced Life Support (ALS) or Basic Life Support (BLS), with common communications and a leader in a separate command vehicle. This team provides an operational group of ambulances complete with a supervisory element for organization command and control.
Staff Deployed:
Capt. Josh Potter (Paramedic) – Training Coordinator
Sgt. Jason Powell (Paramedic) – Emergency Services Public Information Officer
Paramedic Trevor White
It really is a special thing to see a person sacrifice their time with their families and enter into a dangerous environment to go serve people in need.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Josh, Jason and Trevor and their families…Stay Safe!!!