“IA1-DMAT” crew deployed to provide flood-related help
The Iowa One Disaster Medical Assistance Team (IA-1 DMAT) headquartered at Kirkwood Community College will be answering the call to respond for flooding in North Dakota by deploying a full federal response team. The team consists of 37 members including physicians, nurse practitioners, pharmacist, nurses, and other emergency personnel. The team has the ability to run a self sustained hospital in an austere environment without resupply for many days.
The team deployed Saturday at 8 a.m. from Kirkwood Community College’s Community Training and Response Center. From there, the team traveled by caravan to Bismarck, North Dakota to stage then assist with the evacuation of special needs patients in Fargo. The team will ultimately staff a special needs shelter/hospital.
The IA-1DMAT team is a unit of the United States Department of Health and Human Services’ National Disaster Medical System and is based in the Community Training and Response Center on the Kirkwood campus.
IA-1 DMAT team members live throughout Iowa and neighboring states. The entire National Disaster Medical System has over 9,000 health care professionals assigned to 52 teams. The IA-1 DMAT team was founded in September 2001 as part of the national effort to prepare rapid-response medical assistance after disasters of various levels. In the past, IA-1 DMAT has deployed to hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Wilma, Ike, and Gustav.