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MemorialCare Medical Centers Press Room
Nine volunteer doctors and medical personnel from MemorialCare Medical Centers have returned after bringing medical relief to Gulf Coast hurricane victims.The team included doctors, nurses, a hospital chaplain and an administrator from MemorialCare’s Long Beach Memorial and Saddleback Memorial Medical Centers. They worked at the field hospital in Baton Rouge and at the New Orleans airport. Just before leaving, Chaplain Sheryl Faulk from Saddleback Memorial Medical Center held a service for hurricane relief workers. All team members report that the appreciation demonstrated by locals has been overwhelming. “We are all tired, but this is where we needed to be right now,” said Long Beach Memorial’s Jeanne Jones, RN, in a phone call last week after having worked with just four hours of sleep. The returning team were greeted by television, radio and print reporters eager to get their stories from the Gulf Coast. Also, Anaheim Memorial Medical Center’s paramedic coordinator Mary Massey, RN, was deployed to the Gulf Coast through the Disaster Medical Assistance Team. Massey flew into Memphis, and then drove with a 30-member medical caravan to Biloxi. Setting up a provisional facility in a Biloxi school, her team triaged nearly 3,000 people over the Labor Day weekend. Massey is a registered nurse and internationally recognized expert in disaster preparedness and bioterrorism. “As a community-based health system there are times when we need to reach out to other communities in need – even when they are thousands of miles away,” says MemorialCare President and CEO Barry Arbuckle, PhD. Media Contact: |