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Operating a Medical Clinic in the Cajundome Mega-Shelter By Trent Angers


 -


   a long period of time. One of the vital components of this facility was its medical clinic. 


Director Greg Davis opened the dome as a hurricane shelter. It was obvious to him that many of the evacuees coming his way would need             member Dr. Paul Azar, asking if he’d set up a clinic in the dome and serve as medical director. Dr. Azar readily agreed.  


     a Desert Storm era brigade surgeon. Davis knew he had the right man for the job. What Dr. Azar and his team did to accommodate the multitude of


 – making the best of a bad situation.  


up as we went along.” “In a way, it was simple: We saw people badly in need of medical


attention, so we took care of them. “And it helps when that spirit of volunteerism and community sup-


port are at a high level – when people in your town are of one mind and heart. I can’t say enough about how much the local doctors and nurses – and many from around the country – contributed to the over-   


two local medical professionals to handle the day to day operation: Dr.     


  medications and a way to keep records – basically everything that hos- pital emergency room doctors need to have at their disposal. While the clinic was being set up, so was a well-stocked pharmacy.


   pharmacies and physicians donated stock, as well, much of it free sam- ples from pharmaceutical companies. All the donated medicines took up an entire room; they were placed on folding tables and organized  -   


 -  bronchitis, pneumonia, fractures, and various wounds.


20 Facility Manager Magazine


 help the cause. Dr. Azar and his team screened the volunteers, veri- fying their credentials and degree of availability before adding them     in the clinic,” Dr. Azar reports. “We used practically everyone who volunteered, so long as they had the credentials. We put all of them to work!”  and his team were continually screening applicants and assigning their shifts. Dr. Clark, Dr. Azar and others on the medical team met each morn- ing in the Cajundome around 7 o’clock to review the previous day’s activity and to assess the needs of the clinic.         -   were opened around the city to accommodate hurricane evacuees with medical needs. One of the toughest challenges involved with treating the evacuees was their lack of medical records or accurate information about their prescriptions. Clinic nurses and physicians had to try to reconstruct medical histories from scratch, using only patient interviews, blood- work, and vital sign readings and other common diagnostic tools.


With thousands of people in the Cajundome, there was a real con-


cern about the possibility of the spread of a contagious disease. So, Dr. Azar ordered the daily hyper-cleaning of the dome’s bathrooms, - ination tent was set up in the parking lot outside the dome. When evac-  they were brought into the tent and given a shower and a fresh set of clothes. Eye care was another free service provided to hundreds of evacuees


by medical professionals associated with the clinic. Dr. Azar, being an    -   -  


All in all, the Cajundome medical clinic provides a model for others to follow when establishing mega-shelters in the future. FM


Dr. Azar says he is ready and willing to assist others in organizing medical clinics that may be needed following natural disasters that are yet to come. (He can be reached at paulazar@cox.net.)


Trent Angers is with Acadian House Publishing, which recently released The Day of the Cajundome Mega-Shelter and describes how the venue set into practice me- ga-shelter tools and principles used today for public assembly venues in the wake of disasters. Visit www.acadianhouse.com for more information.


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