Disaster Medical
Assistance Team
Donna Fowler, R.Ph.
DMAT
is the acronym for Disaster Medical Assistance Team. DMAT answers to
NDMS, (National Disaster Management Service), the parent organization of
DMAT. NDMS answers to FEMA, and FEMA answers to the Department of
Homeland Security. The state of Texas has three DMAT teams and a
mortuary team. I am a member of TX-3, which is the DMAT team from the
Houston/Galveston area. The teams consist of 35 members made up of
doctors, nurses, paramedics, respiratory therapists, logistics officers,
communications experts, an administrative officer, and pharmacists. We
train together to be a team that can take care of ourselves in an
austere environment as well as the patients who need our care and
treatment in a disaster situation.
DMAT is a volunteer organization, up to a certain point. My time is
volunteered in Field Training Exercises at least twice a year to
practice setting up tents, generators, portable showers, cots,
communications, the pharmacy, and patient care areas. The time spent
doing the on-line training courses is volunteered time. The money spent
on gear, vaccines, and uniforms comes out of each member's own pocket.
If the team is called for deployment, every member has the choice of
saying "Yes, I can go" or "No, I cannot go this time." If the answer is
YES, that's where the volunteering stops. At that point, I become an
employee of the Federal Government, and my license to practice pharmacy
is good in all 50 states and the U.S. territories. Each deployment is a
commitment for 14 days minimum, unless the mission is cut short. I am
paid as a pharmacist based on the government scale (GS) rating, and I am
protected by law from losing my job while on deployment for a period of
up to six months.
At last count, TX-3 had more pharmacists than any team in the nation.
The advantage to this is being able to backfill other teams so that they
can fill their roster in a deployment situation when they have no
pharmacist.
I first learned of DMAT at the TSHP convention several years ago. A
pharmacist named Stephen Adams from St. Luke's Hospital had a booth set
up in the exhibitor's hall with information about DMAT. He was dressed
in his uniform and combat boots. I've always liked combat boots for some
reason and was intrigued by the things that I learned by talking with
him. For several years in a row, I would stop at his booth and talk to
him, but never taking the initiative to fill out the 13 page
application. After 9/11, I was finally motivated enough to go ahead and
join the team and it has been an honor and a blessing to do this kind of
work.
—Donna Fowler, R.Ph.
