NELLIE GAIL RANCH EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS COMMITTEE LAUNCHED FIRST COMMUNITY EXPO on August 24, 2013 for all Laguna Hills Residents


This Expo was informative, stimulating and appeared to be well attended.  Although we didn't get a chance to speak with all the vendors, we were able to chat with Be Ready Earthquake and Survival Products  http://www.2beready.com/,  Orange County Vector Control  www.ocvd.org , SDG&E,  OCRACES  County of Orange (California) Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service Orange County Sheriff's Dept. - Communications Division http://www.ocraces.org/  , The Nellie Gail Ranch Emergency Preparedness Committee, Trauma Intervention Program (TIP)  www.tiporangecounty.org , and our own Brittney Oldham, Crime Prevention Specialist from the Orange County Sheriff's Department Laguna Hills Police Services (949) 707-2641 boldham@ocsd.org  
**Brittney is currently announcing the next Laguna Hills Emergency Preparedness Academy that will start on Sept. 5, 2013 and run weekly through Oct. 24.  The reality is that this "Emergency Preparedness Academy" is a must for all Laguna Hills citizens who care about knowing what to do for themselves and their families, how to help and how to survive when a significant earthquake or other disaster hits.

We learned that about 24 cities in Orange County have City Emergency Plans but there is No City Emergency Plan for Laguna Hills, there is only the County of Orange Plan for citizens to register to be called on land lines and cell phones through Alert OC at www.alertoc.com  
** We completed a Laguna Hills Emergency Preparedness Academy a couple of years ago and recommend it highly!  It was exceptionally informative as well as a real adventure that included a bonus of a tasty meal provided at each session.

As the 3/5 Marines would say we "Got Some" great information from the representatives from our Marines who attended the Expo.  We followed the military hierarchy to try to get a feel for the actual field operations, so began with Lt. Joe Darin, a Naval Physician's Assistant, who is a Battalion Surgeon, which translates to head of medical assistance for a Battalion. In battle he makes decisions in concert with his adjutant and reports from his medical corpsmen related to immediate medical need and need for transport and extended care. He also tracks and manages routine functions such as immunizations, physicals, audio, visual, dental and readiness for active duty assessments. Lt. Darin was stationed at the Naval Hospital in Guam from 2008 to 2011 treating military personnel and all natives of Guam who were related to military personnel at any point in their family history. ** For our animal friends, we were interested to learn that the military medical unit cares for war dogs in battle as well as humans and that veterinarians are assigned to military bases in war zones. We also learned that PTSD is something that can occur in dogs as well as in humans.

Marine 2nd Lt. Andy King is a 2012 graduate of the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, who elected to serve in the Marine Corps, and is an adjutant (assistant) to the Battalion Surgeon. He takes care of all the administrative functions of the medical unit.  He receives information from the field via the Battalion Surgeon and arranges to send what is needed, such as rescue helicopters and/or other transportation in a war zone for wounded military personnel.  It was interesting to hear from Lt. King that there is a 6 week period of battlefield training after, and in addition to, the Naval Academy to prepare for a war zone and for any chosen or assigned specialty such as medical.

We spoke with the 2 Naval Corpsmen (Navy Medical Specialists) Martin Chavez and Louis Huerta who told us the story of Manny Gonzalez, a Naval Corpsman who, after being wounded himself, applied tourniquets to the legs of a Marine who had been severely wounded and saved his life.  We hope to speak with Manny soon to get his story. 
** Correction - The Laguna Hills Watch Dog received this message from Navy Corpsman Manny Gonzalez through the Laguna Hills Team Dark Horse face book page via Karen Robbins on 8-26-13 

Emmanuel Gonzalez 7:22pm Aug 26 I am contacting you to request for you to take down the article "Baptism by fire". I am mentioned in the article and what is said is wrong. I did treat a casualty after being injured myself but he did not survive. The Marine passed away and I do not want people to think I did something I didn't. I would greatly appreciate it.

and we apologize to Manny and the 2 Corpsmen Martin Chavez and Louis Huerta for our error in assuming that this Marine's life was saved.  We are so sorry to learn that ultimately this Marine's life was lost but thank Manny and honor him for his scrupulous honesty and his heroic effort to save this Marine's life. Jean Bland , Laguna Hills Watch Dog, 8-27-13. 

The corpsmen described their jobs as equal to Nurses, we believe that would be emergency room nurses.  Martin was in Sangin, Afghanistan with the 3/5 in 2010 when the 3/5 lost 25 of their men killed in action.  We were all surprised to learn that tourniquets, used in the battlefield, can be left in place up to 6 hours. The corpsmen are the battlefield first responders who immediately assess and evaluate (triage), treat as needed and feed vital information about their patients to the Battalion Surgeon. There are 9 essential levels of reporting, known to them as the "9 Line" that they are required to communicate for every patient including vital signs, and other clinical status details related to need for treatment, assistance and/or continued care. They often have to communicate via radio locators for special needs such a blood, supportive apparatus, and additional fire power to support rescue efforts. To avoid revealing information to the enemy they frequently send "pop" smoke signals in various colors to communicate special needs and current situations related to need for assistance. We asked what led them to this very intense profession and were told that in addition to the need to serve, sometimes the advice came from family related to the ease of transition from the military to other medical positions in civilian life including Tech. positions in X-ray, Respiratory and Labs, as well as entrance into the field of Nursing, Physicians Assistant and Medical School. We can't image receiving medical treatment from more qualified, caring and willing participants and so much appreciate their participation and our education regarding their duties and service to our country.

Medical Branch of the Marines attending the Nellie Gail Ranch Emergency Preparedness Expo on August 24, 2013