When the federal government needs to get immediate medical relief to an area affected by a large-scale disaster, it calls people like Alisa Roberts, DO.
Most of the time, Roberts works for Emergency Physicians of Northwest Ohio, helping patients in Toledo-area emergency rooms. But when disaster strikes, she’s activated as part of the National Disaster Medical Team (NDMS).
NDMS is part of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). It has about 5,000 members – including doctors, nurses, pharmacists and technicians – split into more than 70 response teams. Its purpose is to supplement existing health care systems in disaster-affected areas to speed up the recovery process.
Roberts joined in 2004, having been encouraged to explore disaster medicine during her residency. Her love of helping those who are most in need, and their gratefulness for the assistance, have convinced her to stick with it for the past 13 years.
She’s been deployed twice in 2017: first to Houston in August for Hurricane Harvey, then to Puerto Rico in September for Hurricane Maria, for a total of five weeks. She has responded to hurricanes Katrina, Ike, Irene, and Sandy, too.
“The disaster teams also do medical support for large-scale federal events, so I went out for the inauguration this year in January,” Roberts says.
NDMS sent 460 members to Houston ahead of Harvey to ensure medical facilities were adequately prepared. Roberts’ team during the Harvey response set up an area for medical care at a mass shelter established at NRG Stadium, treating patients to take pressure off hospitals.
“A lot of the stuff we can treat without sending them to the hospital, like diabetes, elevated sugars, and respiratory problems." - Dr. Alisa Roberts
During Maria, her team was based in Ponce, on the southern side of Puerto Rico, working in a hospital emergency room as well as a tent outside to deal with cuts, prescription refills, infected wounds and the like. The team also helped the government reach out to area hospitals to gauge their needs, and took ambulances to more remote areas for the benefit of those who could not make it to a hospital.
HHS established five federal medical stations with as many as 250 beds each in Puerto Rico. Stations were staffed by members of NDMS, as well as officers of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Working in hurricane-hit areas presents a whole host of new challenges, Roberts says, from an inconsistent power supply to admission problems created by lack of phone service. But whether treating a significant injury or just refilling a prescription that had been washed away in an abandoned house, she always appreciates the gratitude of patients who are happy to have any medical care at all.
“It was interesting to do that, and then come back to work and have people with different expectations,” she says. “Patient satisfaction is a whole different world.”
Roberts remembers disaster-area patients asking how much they owe her, only to find out they owe nothing because NDMS is compensated by the federal government. Sometimes, she says, they offer food instead because it’s all they have.
And not only does she appreciate the opportunity to help patients in their hour of need – for example, intubating a woman in respiratory distress on the floor of a high school gym during Katrina – she also acknowledges the relief NDMS provides for doctors who live in the affected areas, who have often been working nonstop for days.
“They need that support and they need that rest to be able to function." - Dr. Alisa Roberts
Roberts is dual-boarded in both ER and EMS medicine. In addition to her daily work and her efforts with NDMS, she previously served as a life flight physician at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland and hopes to work as a flight physician again when her daughter is older.
Roberts was an emergency medical technician before she went to medical school, so she knew for a long time that the ER was the place for her. She knew for even longer than she wanted to be a doctor, because of her interest in medicine and math.
Garth Bishop is a contributing writer. Feedback is welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
Dr. Alisa Roberts
Alisa Roberts, DO, FACEP, FAAEM, is board certified in EM and EMS. She received her medical degree from Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in Kirksville, Missouri and completed her residency at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center in Toledo, Ohio.
