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Dear Colleague: As a physician leader we feel that we must take a leadership role in regard to ensuring that we and our colleagues are aware and prepared to effectively respond to future disasters. We are reaching out to you because this problem can be solved only at the highest levels by physician leaders.
The Problem: September 11, 2001, changed our world in many, many ways, but to the numerous subsequent events that seemed to follow awoke all of us that practice medicine. We lived through random anthrax attacks, then the SARS outbreak, followed by blackouts in New York City and the surrounding cities and states during the summer of 2003. Then, the December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the Pakistan earthquake of 2005, a tumultuous hurricane season in 2005 culminating with the arrival of Hurricane Katrina, and, of course, terrorist attacks throughout the world including Spain, England, Bangladesh and Bali—all against a backdrop of conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Beginning of the Solution: The medical establishment in North America began forming study and discussion groups in disaster medicine. In some cases, medical schools were already on the front lines of this movement—, such as the University of New Mexico Center for Disaster Medicine, which was established in 1989. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the world, there have been disaster medicine for-credit courses at prestigious medical universities in London, Paris, Brussels and Bordeaux since the early 1980’s. In 2003, the American Medical Association collaborated with four medical centers and three national health organizations, establishing the National Disaster Life Support (NDLS) training program. The American Medical Association (AMA) also formed a Center for Public Health Preparedness and Disaster Response (CPHPDR), and about this time, the American Osteopathic Association and the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine formed the AOA/AACOM Task Force on Bioterrorism. The AOA also opened an AOA Office of Emergency Response. Fast forward: Now five years after September 11, 2001, medical schools, organizations, associations and hospitals that are not forging credentials in disaster medicine are something akin to a hotel that does not offer its guests an Internet connection in every room: they are behind the times. This then helps explain why disaster medicine is a specialty field that is growing exponentially. Our colleagues are addressing the topic on blogs and are forming groups such as the Texas Medical Rangers, which aims to respond to natural disasters and weapons of mass destruction attacks inside Texas. In the midst of all of this change, what once seemed improbable has now become inevitable: The first ever creation of a medical board dealing solely with the certification in this field, and an affiliated academy to help train, coordinate, and promote the education and science of disaster medicine. Why take this bold step now? In the past several years, it has become increasingly apparent that federal, state and local emergency management organizations are in need of a mechanism to determine the qualifications of physicians during the time of a disaster. Did you know that many of our colleagues who show up to volunteer at disasters have a bare minimum of knowledge in disaster medicine, regardless of their specialty? Who we are: The American Academy of Disaster Medicine (AADM) is an affiliate of the American Board of Disaster Medicine, (ABODM) formed to meet this and the myriad of needs created by the disaster planning, preparation, education, response and recovery environment. Twenty-four recognized physicians from all specialties who have comprehensive knowledge in disaster management, triage and incident command constitute the AADM Board of Governors. Some of this group is comprised of military physicians, D-MAT commanders and civilians who have served this country. Regardless of specialty, these physician leaders are committed to preparing other physicians in the skills that will be needed for future national disasters. Being trained and certified by the ABODM provides government and healthcare organizations with credible, identifiable and reproducible evidence of a provider’s knowledge and skill level in all aspects of disaster planning, preparedness, response and mitigation. Once certified by ABODM, a physician is assuring the public that he/she has the knowledge and ability to serve in any leadership role in the disaster spectrum. Why Join: There are many reasons to join, but the most significant one is really this: Do you have the desire to serve your fellow citizens at the time of a disaster? If the answer to that is YES, then we urge you to obtain the necessary skills, training and certification to enable you, regardless of specialty, to do just that. We are calling on you, the surgeon, the pediatrician, the urologist, the hospitalist, the psychiatrist, the internist, the family practitioner, the radiologist, the pathologist, the oncologist, the anesthesiologist, the dermatologist, the cardiologist, the vascular surgeon, the hematologist, the neurosurgeon, the emergency medicine specialist, whatever your specialty is, to become further qualified in the intricacies that make the practice of disaster medicine unique. Please refer to the enclosed application, and we look forward to working with each one of you.
Sincerely,
Gary M. Klein, M.D., M.B.A., M.P.H.
Lewis W. Marshall, Jr., M.D., J.D., FAAEP |
