October 5, 2024
FEMA an Even Bigger Disaster Than the Storms Themselves -- and How it Can Be Replaced
By Ned Barnett
This is more of a think piece than an article, so please stay with me here. It’s based on decades of public health and disaster management work I’ve been involved with during my career.
I first got involved in this while working as an executive at Lexington County Hospital, across the river from the state Capital of Columbia in South Carolina. I’ve had similar positions at other county and city hospitals, including such disaster areas as Flint, Michigan’s city hospital. In all cases, those hospitals were responsible for public health in the counties and cities they served.
At Lexington County Hospital, we were hit by Hurricane David – not just hit, but for roughly eight hours, the eye of the storm seemed to hover right on top of our hospital, which was in itself frightening.
Nowhere near as big as Helene, even a relatively mild hurricane like David is a monster storm. Until you’ve seen water blown into the hospital through the brick wall, you have no idea what a deluge coming at you at 85 miles per hour can do – let alone Helene’s 140 miles per hour winds – you really can’t appreciate the damage it can do. I do know that when David was approaching, I evacuated my family – my wife and infant son, but not our pet Sheltie, “Pumpkin” – into the hospital. This protected them – hospitals are built to withstand such winds and environmental violence – so I could focus on doing my job without worrying about their safety.
In this South Carolina community, the Army at nearby Fort Jackson provided helicopter emergency medivac – medical and evacuation services. This was great, real-life training for the Army helicopter and air-rescue crews, and it provided excellent med-evac services for our five-county region.
more
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/10/fema_an_even_bigger_disaster_than_the_storms_themselves_and_how_to_replace_it.html
