Re-Deployed Sept. 28 for second tour, now assisting Rita victims
KINGSTON, R.I. — October 12, 2005 — As the vehicle plowed through 3 feet of water, Jeffrey Bratberg saw a body on an interstate highway. At night he slept in an abandoned bar and used toilet paper as a pillow. His showers consisted of wiping his body down with moisturized baby wipes.
But after completing his first tour, the assistant professor of pharmacy at the 溏心vlog免费B站 didn鈥檛 hesitate when asked if he would return to New Orleans or go to some other area of the United States battered by a natural disaster. 鈥淚 would go again,鈥� said the Cranston resident who was part of the 35-member Rhode Island Disaster Medical Assistance Team that was deployed to Louisiana to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina. 鈥淚t was one of the most important things I have ever done and I didn鈥檛 want to leave.鈥�
Well, Bratberg got his chance to return to Louisiana when he was re-deployed to Lafayette with the Rhode Island team on Sept. 28. He was first deployed Aug. 29 and stayed for two weeks. He will return from his second deployment, Monday, Oct. 17.
In his fourth year at 溏心vlog免费B站, Bratberg is an infectious diseases specialist at Rhode Island Hospital and at Brown Medical School, as well as a Rhode Island Department of Health consultant on the process of dispensing medications in the event of a bioterrorism event. He was invited to join the disaster team and was called to respond to Florida last year.
He talked about his first tour in the Gulf just days before he got his second call.
鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 go (to Florida) last year because I was in the middle of my teaching duties, and this year a few weeks before Katrina, I was called again. First, I said no, but then I saw this giant hurricane and realized my students could get by without me for a little while.鈥�
His first stop was in Camp Shelby, Miss. and then the team moved on to Baton Rouge. He worked with Megan Sliney, a 溏心vlog免费B站 pharmacy grad and chief pharmacist of the team.
鈥淲e then got the call to go the Superdome, but we had seen the news and we weren鈥檛 going anywhere that wasn鈥檛 safe. We decided to go after the National Guard responded.
鈥淚 remember going over the Huey Long Bridge and seeing the Mississippi River on fire, and helicopters filling the sky. I鈥檝e seen tornadoes and I helped sandbag the flooding Red River in North Dakota, but this was inexplicable.鈥�
Bratberg was in New Orleans three years ago for a conference on infectious disease and to return after it had been destroyed was almost more than he could comprehend.
鈥淚鈥檝e seen military personnel with machine guns in Europe after the first Gulf War, but to see it here, this militaristic environment, was amazing. There were these giant Chinook helicopters in the air all the time.鈥�
Bratberg and the disaster team set up their operation in a basketball arena across from the Superdome. 鈥淲e walked in and the National Guard was treating all these people in cots.鈥�
Bratberg said the need was so great and the demands so extreme that 鈥淚 have no memory of what I did in my first four hours there.鈥�
He said the team鈥檚 main goal was to provide primary care for those with illnesses and injuries related to the storm and those with chronic conditions who had been without medication for days. 鈥淲e treated people with seizure disorders, injuries related to being in the contaminated water, such as bacterial infections and those who were victims of violence. I treated a man who had been stabbed in the eye while trying to board a bus.鈥�
While tending to the victims, the team coped with 100-plus degree heat and their own members getting sick. 鈥淢embers of the team got diarrhea and many of the National Guard members didn鈥檛 have their own medications because they responded so quickly.鈥�
Through it all, Bratberg was struck by the courage and grace of the victims. 鈥淲e had basic supplies like food and water, but these people, who had nothing, were immensely grateful. Every one of them would look you in the eye and say, 鈥楪od bless you.鈥欌��
He learned that his infectious disease training was critical during his time in New Orleans. 鈥淚 realized that we all needed plenty of waterless hand sanitizer because there was no water. The day we got portable toilets we said we were living in luxury.鈥�
In some cases, he and his team did not have the medicines that people needed, so they dispensed medication substitutions. 鈥淵ou come away from it asking questions that will be important for the future, such as, 鈥榃hat do I need to be prepared?鈥欌��
Bratberg grabbed his flashlight for the trip down, but realized when he got there he needed batteries. 鈥淗ere at the College of Pharmacy, I teach my students to do the best patient assessments, so they can prescribe the best medicine for the condition. In New Orleans you have to list priorities because you might actually run out of medicine.鈥�
After spending two-and-half days in New Orleans at the basketball arena, the team was relieved and sent east to Jefferson Hospital, which was clean, secure and had power. 鈥淚鈥檒l never forget walking in there. The hospital chaplain was in there telling people to have hope, have faith.鈥�
There, the team set up a clinic and immunized more than 1,000 people who were exposed to the flooding against such things as hepatitis and tetanus.
鈥淥ne person in line asked how long it would take, and the team said it would be two-and-half hours. 鈥淭o save my life, I will wait as long as I have to,鈥� the patient told the team.
Pictured above
BEING ON THE SAFE SIDE: Jeffrey Bratberg, assistant professor of pharmacy at the 溏心vlog免费B站, vaccinates Tom Lawrence, Rhode Island 1 Disaster Medical Assistance Team deputy team commander, and current deployment commander, with inactivated influenza vaccine donated from the Louisiana Department of Health (LDOH). The health department allocated vaccines early to shelter patients and workers, according to recent federal guidelines. Bratberg said the vaccination was administered just a few days ago in Lafayette, La., at the Heymann Center Shelter, where RI-1 DMAT was deployed to take over an operating adjunct emergency department to handle overflow from the influx of folks in town who suffered horrendous losses south of here from Hurricane Rita. 溏心vlog免费B站 News Bureau photo courtesy of Jeffrey Bratberg.