Hurricane Sandy’s aftermath in Coney Island was a mass casualty incident – tens of thousands of elderly people were without electricity in high-rise Housing Authority buildings and could not get downstairs because the elevators didn’t work. They were unable to get their own food and medication, and were exposed to cold and carbon monoxide poisoning (from heating their apartments with their ovens). Only a few died, but at least thousands were “casualties” of the superstorm’s aftermath. There were less than a dozen street medics. The small number of FEMA teams were restricted in which buildings they could search and what aid they could provide. So the medics developed a process for organizing and supervising non-streetmedic volunteers with biomedical or social work training to canvass the buildings, identify need, provide care, call for back-up from other organizations and 911, and refill prescriptions.
The medic training site is hosted by sdf