St. Francois County Ambulance crew in Louisiana

Team provides triage and transport after hurricane Gustav

By TERESA RESSEL
Daily Journal Staff Writer

Four St. Francois County Ambulance employees are among the emergency personnel helping out in Louisiana.

Administrator David Tetrault said they were asked on Friday night to help out. Other local crews to join the Missouri EMS Strike Team are from Joachim-Plattin, North Jefferson County, Valle Ambulance, and Meramec Ambulance.

“With only a few hours notice, our employees were set up with a few supplies, equipment, personal protective equipment and a few items from home,” Tetrault said.

Randy Davis, who is serving as a strike team leader, Leanne Laiben, Renee Weber and Nathan Allen took an ambulance and the district’s command vehicle and arrived in Alexandria, Louisiana, Saturday night.

After they arrived, they were deployed to Napoleonville, a small town about four hours away, to evacuate 19 special needs patients from a nursing home that was threatened by Gustav. The patients were moved to a place three hours north.

On Tuesday, they were asked to provide transport and triage services for a temporary medical operation in Lafayette.

Tetrault said all crews seem to be in good spirits and are working well in the conditions. Crew members are having to sleep on the ambulances but they have only been getting a couple hours of sleep a day.

On Sunday, Gov. Matt Blunt announced the mobilization an additional 120 Missouri National Guard citizen-soldiers to support Hurricane Gustav recovery efforts in Louisiana, bringing the total number of mobilized Missouri Guard members to more than 600.

The soldiers included 50 Citizen-Soldiers from the 1221st Transportation Company, located in Dexter, Portageville and Sikeston and 70 Citizen-Soldiers from Company A, 311th Brigade Support Battalion, located in Nevada and Lamar; a task force of military police from across the state led by the 205th Military Police Battalion in Poplar Bluff; an aviation maintenance team from Springfield; and the 7th Civil Support Team, located at Fort Leonard Wood. Captain Tamara Spicer said there are some from the 220th and the 880th.

The Missouri National Guard Citizen-Soldiers are being mobilized under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, an interstate mutual aid agreement. They will remain on duty until released by the governor of Louisiana.

There are approximately 11,500 Citizen-Soldiers and Airmen in the Missouri National Guard, with nearly 1,500 currently mobilized in support of the Global War on Terrorism.

Teresa Ressel is a reporter for the Daily Journal and can be reached at 573-431-2010, ext. 179 or at tressel@dailyjournalonline.com.

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