[ RadSafe ] " Homeland Security Chief Sees Nuclear ForensicOffice as Attack Deterrent "

[MikeNukeEP at aol.com]

Al:   
Bravo on Washington State's initiative.   In the mid-1990s, I developed and 
implemented a radiological emergency response education program in Illinois 
using free, on-site, in-service training for hospital and EMS personnel (with 
continuing education credits) that reached more than 5,000 participants and 200 
hospitals and EMS providers over a 10-year period.   The emphasis was on 
radiation basics (alpha, beta, gamma; time, distance and shielding) and on practical 
procedures for handling the victims of a radiation incident.  Adapting 
contamination and exposure control procedures based on methodology that medical 
personnel already knew helped alleviate anxiety over radiation hazards.   But 
despite the minimal cost involved, the program was abandoned by the State 
Emergency Management Agency when FEMA refused to acknowledge that it contributed to 
overall preparedness.   Among the "lessons learned" during the decade that the 
program was offered is that the best of the nuclear medicine/radiology staff at 
most hospitals simply aren't prepared to support the Emergency Department or 
EMS during a radiological emergency.   Most are not mass casualty oriented nor 
do they understand the logistics or operational considerations associated 
with the ER; they work in diagnostics, not trauma.   While I met hundreds of 
dedicated medical professionals whose knowledge of radiation far exceeded my own, 
I met only a handful that could adapt their skills to the circumstances 
surrounding a radiation incident such as a dirty bomb.   Add that fact to the huge 
turnover rates in Emergency Department and EMS personnel in any given community 
and the discouraging reality is a woeful lack of sustainable capability.   I 
know of only one or two other states who have attempted to address the problem 
as Washington and Illinois did, but others are unlikely to follow suit until 
DHS, HHS or some other federal agency steps up and endorses such efforts.
Mike Sinclair
Graystone Radiological Emergency Management
5413 S 53rd Ave., Laveen, AZ 85339


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