It has become clear that one of the steps a local community must take to prepare for the medical response to a disaster or catastrophic mass casualty incident is the development of an Alternative Medical Treatment Site initiative. Hospitals across the country are extremely busy on a daily basis. In a disaster situation, hospitals become overwhelmed and it is essential that their resources remain available for treating critical patients. One method to achieve this is to open Alternative Medical Treatment Sites (AMTS) to handle "green tagged" or "minor" patients.

The Center for Disaster Risk Policy at Florida State University is uniquely qualified to work with local emergency response agencies to develop, implement and exercise strategies which will enable communities to meet the medical needs of individuals with minor injuries in the aftermath a mass casualty event.

In May 2008 the United States House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released a report entitled Hospital Emergency Surge Capacity: Not Ready For The Predictable Surprise.

From the report's Executive Summary:

At the request of Chairman Henry, the majority staff of the Committee conducted a survey of Level I trauma centers in seven major cities in the United States to assess whether they have the capacity to respond to the level of casualties experienced in the Madrid Spain commuter trains attack that killed 177 instantly and injured more than 2,000.

The survey was conducted on Tuesday March 25 2008 at 4:30PM local time in each of the seven cities. The survey was designed to determine the real-time capacity of the emergency rooms at the Level I trauma centers to absorb a sudden influx from a mass casualty incident. 34 of the 41 Level I trauma centers in these cities participated in the survey.

The results of the survey show that none of the hospitals surveyed in the seven cities had sufficient emergency care capacity to respond to an attack generating the number of casualties that occurred in Madrid.

The entire report can be viewed by logging onto: Not Ready For The Predictable Surprise

Today's hospitals run at near capacity on a daily basis. Are yours ready for a patient surge of 200, 500 or 1,000 victims due to a:

• Mass Casuality Incident
• Chemical Release
• Biological Event
• Pandemic
• Terrorist Attack
• Mass Prophylaxis

In preparation for establishing an AMTS you should consider:

• A Regional Collaboration including Non-Governmental and Faith Based Organizations
• Medical and Non-Medical Personnel
• Behavioral Health Personnel
• Required Medical Equipment / Supply Resources
• A thorough understanding of Local, State and Federal laws
• The need for a Volunteer Recruitment, Training and Retention Program

Information on these exercises can be found at:

Support for your community to implement or strenghten an AMTS can be provided by the Center for Disaster Risk Policy in the following areas:

• Plan Preparation and / or Review
• SOP Design and Development
• Training Development and Implementation
• Exercise Design and Facilitation
• Community Partment Recruitment and Retention
• Volunteer Recruitment, Training and Retention

For additional information on how the Center for Disaster Risk Policy's staff can meet your community's disaster planning, preparedness and exercise needs please contact us.