Oct 4, 2005 By Patty Yauger 4 min read

A local team of paramedics and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) along with other Pennsylvania first responders are awaiting orders from federal authorities to assist with recovery efforts in the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast region. Rick Adobato, Fayette EMS director of operations, said Monday that the nearly 80 members of the commonwealth’s Ambulance Strike Team arrived Sunday and joined other Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) activated teams at the Jimmy Swaggart Ministries Campus in Baton Rouge.

“We’ve not received any orders yet as to where we will be going or what we will be doing,” said Adobato. “So right now we’re getting organized.”

The strike team, including Adobato and Fayette EMS paramedics Jason Hayes, Jason Bartholomai, EMTs Richard Cole and Jay Speeny along with mechanic Mike Woodley were activated Friday and joined with other first responder groups in Washington before beginning the southward trip.

The convoy experienced only one problem during the 27-hour trip and that was fueling the diesel-powered equipment.

“Because there are so many vehicles, we always tried to pull into a service station with an abundance of pumps,” said Adobato. “As we got closer (to Baton Rouge) we pulled into one station and they didn’t have any gas, so we went across the road where they had only one pump. Needless to say, it took us a good while to fill up.”

Because of the numerous agencies at the site, the strike team was required to provide its own evening meal and sleep outdoors in tents and sleeping bags.

“I ate my first MRE (meal ready to eat) and it wasn’t too bad,” said Adobato. “I slept in the back of my vehicle and another one of the guys pulled the stretcher out of the ambulance and slept on it while the rest of the guys slept in the tent; we’re doing OK.”

In addition to medical supplies, the team has sufficient equipment and food should they be dispatched to an area without support supplies.

“We’re pretty much self-contained,” said Adobato. “We probably could set up our own mini-city.”

He speculates that the team will be tapped today for house-to-house searches or providing support to Louisiana 9-1-1 emergency services throughout the region as Baton Rouge is operational.

Hampton Grunewald, executive assistant to Baton Rouge Mayor Melvin “Kip” Hampton, said Monday that the city did incur some damage including downed trees and power lines along with some flooding, during both Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, but that the needed repairs have been made.

The city did, however, see its nearly 228,000 population increase by 225,000 more following the storms with evacuees from the ravaged New Orleans areas seeking higher ground.

“We’re taking it one day at a time,” said Grunewald.

The rise in the number of vehicles traveling the roadway has resulted in a signal timing change along the major arteries and temporary housing being erected in several areas. The population increase has also caused the number of emergency calls to its 9-1-1 center to multiply and prompted the establishment of temporary schools.

“We’ve had to open a few charter schools (to accommodate the influx of school-aged children), but everything is going well,” he said.

“We’re glad we can help these people. We would be glad for their help if the roles were reversed.”

U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Altoona) will be in the Gulf Coast region today with members of the Select Committee investigating the response to and preparation for Hurricane Katrina.

“All around central and western Pennsylvania people have reached out to help those left stranded by Hurricane Katrina – some have donated to the Red Cross, some helped with my ‘Kids of Katrina Donation Drive’ and others, like Fayette EMS have headed to the region to offer their expertise and services,” he said. “I have heard from people on the ground that our efforts have been helping.”

In addition to Fayette EMS, Mon Valley EMS, which is based in Monessen, is also participating in the two-week deployment.