You should read this article, it’s illuminating.

“• Less than 10% of the challenges faced during a disaster are medical.

• Only 10% of persons who arrive at a hospital or shelter following a disaster are in need of acute medical attention.

• Only 10% of those presenting to a shelter clinic or a hospital following a disaster have a potentially life-threatening condition.”

It also highlights that current ED’s are working on the edge now, and ED’s DON’T have a real surge capacity.

Thanks for helping me prove my point.

“For several reasons, the situation in Houston was “logistically and politically” conducive to receiving and treating large numbers of evacuees. Most importantly, the area was not affected by Hurricane katrina, leaving its extensive health care system intact and ready to respond. A wide range of academic, governmental, and private organizations came together to make and implement plans for the katrina Clinic. A key first step was the creation of a unified command and control system to direct and coordinate services—a public health infrastructure equivalent to that of a small town was created almost literally overnight.

The Clinic was built in a 100,000-square-foot space in the Reliant Arena. Within 12 hours — aided by the use of existing exhibit hall materials — workers had created a facility including 65 examination rooms. Over the next 2 weeks, the Katrina Clinic saw more than 11,000 of the estimated 27,000 evacuees seeking shelter in the Complex. Clinic staff wrote nearly 17,000 prescriptions, performed nearly 600 x-rays and other radiologic studies, and gave more than 6,000 vaccinations.“