College of Community Health Sciences

On April 27, 2011, the City of Tuscaloosa, Alabama suffered the worst natural disaster in its history. A one mile wide F5 tornado with 200 mile an hour winds damaged a significant portion of the city. There were 53 casualties and more than 1,000 injuries. DCH Regional Medical Center is a 583 tertiary care hospital and Level II Trauma Center servicing patients of West Alabama. Two hundred of the 300 active staff recognized the gravity of the disaster without being summoned and immediately responded to help render care. Patients were triaged into two areas: the Emergency Department for those seriously injured needing immediate intervention and surgery, cardiopulmonary resuscitation in progress, head injuries, etc and Non Emergency Department Areas for those less seriously injured. Drills and planning for 200 patients can be expanded for much larger numbers of patients. Regularly rehearsed plans can be implemented quickly. Having physicians trained in large scale emergencies and disasters is essential. The Tuscaloosa medical community arose to the occasion of providing high level care to the large number of patients injured by the tornado. __________ Advocating for tobacco-free pharmacies: Past and