Jill A. Antoine, M.D., Chair
Committee on Trauma and Emergency Preparedness

This is the first in a series of articles to cover preparedness issues at home, in your practice, in your hospital, community, state and nation.

nesthesiologists are very busy physicians. The majority of us wake very early to begin work at 0700. Most of us leave our homes before our children are safely off to school and our partners have begun their home or work days. We spend extended hours at the hospital frequently covering 24-hour shifts. Our responsibilities often include code airway and trauma coverage for the hospital emergency room, critical care in-house coverage, 24-hour labor and delivery and operative coverage and pain management coverage, in addition to our regular perioperative and operating room duties.

Our beepers and phones go off constantly. We deal with everything from the mundane to the STAT difficult airway. Needless to say, we live life on the edge. Despite this our partners, children and loved ones are always on our minds.

Preparing for hospital preparedness for weapons of mass destruction or other types of disasters requires that we know that our loved ones are safe. Otherwise we will be distracted, if not tempted to leave our duties to care for them.

Question: Are you and your loved ones prepared for a major disaster?
All-hazards preparedness starts at home. Identify the most likely hazards to be faced by you and your family in your geographical location. To do so, visit <www.fema.gov/areyouready>, where you can locate the most common disaster(s) you and your family might face. Then you can download the supply lists, checklists and emergency data information cards each one of you should carry to be prepared in the event of a disaster.

It is currently recommended to stock up with food and water rations for a minimum of three days. You need a “take and go” kit intended to support your families outdoors for three days. These kits, with items such as food, prescription medication and a first-aid kit, can be created by you or purchased online. Just a few of the sites that offer prepackaged kits are listed here at the following sites: <www.quakekare.com>, <www.earthshakes.com> and <www.nitro-pak.com>. Storage of the kit depends on the disaster most likely to occur in your geographic location. It also is recommended that you have an emergency kit in each of your cars. Additional water beyond three days should always be available in containers at your home.

We need to make sure our families can contact us or that we can contact them. One of the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina was the need to have a reliable contact outside your state of residence. Many physicians were unable to contact their loved ones at home due to power outages and downed cellular towers locally, while long distance was available. Therefore having a friend or grandparent serve as the contact coordinator in an out-of-state or out-of-region area is preferred. Each of your family members should carry a phone card and a contact name and number at all times. Many physicians felt the need to return home to check on their families as a result of unreliable and failed communication systems.

Again, all-hazards preparedness begins at home. Initiate these simple measures and you will be prepared to participate “in the event of a disaster” while knowing that your loved ones are safe.

Jill A. Antoine, M.D., is Associate Clinical Professor of Anesthesiology, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, California. She is the ASA liaison to the Advanced Trauma Life Support Committee.