Re: some details on St. Lucie

[RuthWeiner@aol.com]

In a message dated 10/19/02 10:29:26 AM Mountain Daylight Time, joseroze@netvision.net.il writes:



> What I can't understand is the USA portrait made here in the radsafe

Here is a partial response, from my days on an emergency response advisory committee here in New Mexico, that may help:


Emergency response in the United States is a local responsibility, and is usually part of the responsibility of the local fire department (this includes emergency response to everything, including dispersion of radioactive and hazardous materials).  In fact, the first on the scene of an accident -- the "first responder" -- is either the local police force or the local fire department.  In a radiation emergency, DOE may at some time take over the situation, but is almost never the first responder.


OK, we need to educate the first responders and emergency personnel, and that is done under federal guidelines, and works for professional fire departments, as long as the "educators" know what they are talking about.  The last statement is not facetious; I am amazed at how little most doctors, including emergency room physicians, know about the health effects (or lack thereof) of radioactive and chemically hazardous materials.  Moreover, in the U. S., many fire departments are made up of volunteers, especially in rural areas and small towns, and the average personnel turnover in volunteer fire departments is six months.


I am not proposing an answer to this problem, but an explanation of situations such as the one Barbara describes.  If emergency responders get most of their information form the mass media, the result is what we should expect it to be.


Ruth

Ruth Weiner, Ph. D.

ruthweiner@aol.com