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The Saint Lazare Medical Response Unit is now equipped with mobile disaster and multiple patient treatment capacity. Supervisors at the Medical Response Unit credit the generousity of the community for allowing the organization to organize this initiative.

A 16 foot trailer purchased in 2009 has been completely outfitted to serve as a stand-alone medical response unit and mobile coordination centre. The Saint Lazare Medical Response Unit’s objective with the launch of this vehicle – known as Medic 4: Unité de support médical – is to be prepared for large scale or longer-term medical response, such as what would be required at the scene of a major incident, on standby at public events, or during an environmental disaster on the scale of the Ice Storm.

The Medical Response Unit introduced Médic 4 to the community at an inaugural reception on Monday, January 25th. During the event, the team recognized the volunteers who planned and built Medic 4: Benoit Hébert, Joel Deshaies, Jean Noel, and Kent Wood. The team also recognized Saint Lazare Medical Response Unit Director Nick D’Ulisse for what they called his visionary work in establishing Medic 4.

Donations from a fundraising event held in the spring of 2009, which saw cars stopped at the corner of Bedard and Ste-Angelique in Saint Lazare, helped to purchase and outfit a large trailer to house the emergency supplies.

The Medical Response Unit’s disaster preparedness specialist, Joel Deshaies, says that the organization’s desire to be ready in case of a large-scale emergency medical need on its territory is what prompted the group’s initiative. Deshaies led the group’s effort to create the medical supply stockpile aboard Medic 4.

While most of the new trailer is loaded with medical supplies and equipment, it also has room for first responders to set up a small treatment area. The trailer is also equipped with its own generator and lighting system in case of power failure.

The Hudson Music Club made a surprise donation to the Saint Lazare Medical Response Unit in 2009. That donation was used toward the construction of the emergency treatment area inside the trailer.

Saint Lazare Medical Response Unit Director Nick D’Ulisse said that the volunteers of the Medical Response Unit also deserve a good deal of the credit for realizing Medic 4. The volunteers themselves planned the supplies onboard, trained in its mobilization and use, and did all the modifications on Medic 4, including building the emergency treatment area, installing storage, a sleeping area, and a coordination area.

“We hope to never need the trailer,” Deshaies said. “But, the reality is that it’s better to be prepared.”

I read the January recollections of Ice Storm ‘98 with interest. Two things stood out for me in the 10-year anniversary analysis: the remembrance of a sense of community and assurances that things would be different for us if this kind of emergency was reenacted.

Personal stories in Your Local Journal and many other newspapers recalled how neighbour helped neighbour, sharing from the woodpile and the pantry. Since I was on the East Coast, an area scarcely affected by the Ice Storm, I can only imagine through those reminiscences how the feeling of caring must have grown. I can only read about what it must have been like to go for so long without the comforts on which we rely.

In Canada, there were 30 deaths associated with the Ice Storm. People died from carbon monoxide poisoning or fire as they tried to provide power and warmth for their houses; they died from trauma when they fell from the roof clearing ice or skidded out on the treacherous roadways; and they died from hypothermia after too many cold days spent in their homes.

That anyone, anywhere in Quebec should die during prolonged bad weather is troubling, though not exceptional.  It became more overbearing for me when I learned that a woman right in Saint Lazare lost her life during le verglas.  Sadly, the public memory of deaths during the Ice Storm has faded and I’ve never known her name or even how she died. 

The meteorology of freezing rain is imprecise. Environment Canada says that predicting freezing rain itself is difficult. When we try to imagine a storm’s duration and rainfall accumulation amounts, there is little predictability. Perhaps it will not happen again in our lifetime.

We can even put our faith in the Hydro Quebec’s assertions that the blackouts of the magnitude seen during the Ice Storm will never happen again. After the Ice Storm, reports suggested that the electrical supply would be better protected if it were completely buried under ground. That never happened. We remain in the shadow of the tall steel structures that carry the power. There is a nagging principal of caution that motivates me to ask: Are we so brazen to conclude that we really could withstand a similar weather-borne threat?

The spectre of damage to the distribution system for our power supply raises a subsequent question: Are you prepared to live without electricity if the power goes off today? Many reports say that we are more prepared at every level, but I am as skeptical about our personal preparedness as I am about the ability of the electricity to flow unimpeded during a catastrophic event. I hope that our collective memory of Ice Storm ‘98 can recall the sadness of our losses, and in that we are working to be better prepared if there should ever be a next time.

So, I ask you this simple question: are you prepared to care for your household if the lights go out? Answer it honestly, for your family’s well-being. How long could you sustain yourself and your family without electricity? What about your pets? What would you do if the water system fails? Where will you get fuel? Where will you turn for information if there is a widespread emergency? Emergency preparedness organizations have checklists and strategies that you can use to be ready, just in case. Seek them out.

Plan for the unexpected; anticipate the unforeseeable: when it comes to life or death emergencies, these are the best adages that come to mind.

Have you seen the t.v. commercials about “72-hours?”  They’re a bit cryptic, but the jist of them is that, during a major emergency, you and your family should be self-sufficient for seventy-two hours.

The Government of Canada is promoting the 72-hours theme to encourage us all to get ready now, before a disaster or other emergency.  To be able to live for three days when there is no electricity or water, and no stores, banks or gas stations open, you simply must prepare ahead of time. 
 
The rationale for the 72-hour duration of self-sufficiency is to give emergency crews like the Équipe d’intervention médicale de Saint Lazare, fire services, civic services, hydro, civil engineers, and others time to respond to the most urgent problems during the emergency situation.  It allows those who are prepared to look after their families while emergency crews work to re-establish safety and roll-out emergency health services.
 
The seventy-two hour campaign has a website where you can find out more about how to prepare: getprepared.ca. 

Here is a basic list of items recommended by Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada to put in your emergency preparedness kit for the home.  Put these items in a backpack or other transportable container so that they are easily taken with you in case you have to leave in a hurry:

• at least two litres of water per person per day (Include small bottles that can be carried easily in case of an evacuation order);
• Food that won’t spoil, such as canned food, energy bars and dried foods (remember to replace the food and water once a year);
• Manual can opener
• Flashlight and batteries;
• Candles and matches or lighter (remember to place candles in sturdy containers and to put them out before going to sleep: candles are the number one source of fires during emergency disasters);
• Battery-powered or wind-up radio(and extra batteries);
• First aid kit;
• Special items such as prescription medications, infant formula and equipment for people with disabilities;
• Extra keys for your car and house;
• Some cash in smaller bills, such as $10 bills (Automated bank machines and credit cards may not work during a blackout or other emergency) and change for payphones;
• A copy of your emergency plan including contact information.
   
  Other items to consider:
• A change of clothing and footwear for each household member;
• Sleeping bag or warm blanket for each household member;
• A whistle (in case you need to attract attention);
• Garbage bags for personal sanitation;
• Toilet paper and other personal care supplies;
• Safety gloves;
• Basic tools (hammer, pliers, wrench, screwdrivers, fasteners, work gloves);
• Small fuel-driven stove and fuel (follow manufacturer’s directions and store properly);
• Two additional litres of water per person per day for cooking and cleaning

If you’d rather not prepare your own, emergency preparedness kits may be purchased.  St. John Ambulance and the Salvation Army have jointly prepared a “disaster kit,” which can be purchased from many leading retailers.   The Red Cross also has kits available online or by contacting them at (514) 362-2930. 

In an emergency, call 911.