Training mannequins were used during a full scale Ohio Mortuary Response Team disaster exercise for the state of Ohio.
NCMR Programs
Ohio Mortuary Response Team
The Ohio Mortuary Response Team (OMRT) is a mass fatality response team currently made up of licensed funeral directors with the common goal of responding and assisting local coroners, medical examiners, and emergency management agencies in identification and the return of human remains to their loved ones following a mass fatality or post fatality incident.
Formerly known as the Ohio Funeral Directors Association Mortuary Response Team (OFDA-MRT), the team was established in the early 1980s and is one of the first organized and trained mortuary response teams in the country. Similar to the national Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team (DMORT), the OMRT can provide a state level resource when a federal response is not warranted or available. OMRT was created to serve the needs of local coroners, medical examiners and emergency management agencies in their mission to bring dignity and professionalism to caring for the deceased. The team is designed to respond to a mass fatality incident using trained personnel from multiple state and local agencies, as well as other specialized resources in the event of a man-made or natural incident that overwhelms the capability of the local coroner’s office.
(L-R) NCMR Assistant Director Bill Harchick speaks with OMRT Director Mike Gedert, Ohio Emergency Management Agency Executive Director Nancy Dragani and other state officials.
The rapid and accurate identification of mass fatality victims is of critical importance to any disaster recovery operation. Issues of probate cannot be resolved until identification has been confirmed and a death certificate issued by the coroner. Additionally, the investigative and identification process in a mass fatality situation is a multidisciplinary endeavor requiring multiple forensic and medical specialists to come together rapidly and often under adverse conditions.
The OMRT task force duties may include: initial scene response, evaluation, and processing, temporary morgue operations and family assistance. The OMRT maintains a cache of mortuary response equipment that is able to support site/recovery operations, temporary morgue operations, ante-mortem data collection, information resources operations and administrative needs. Upon official request through the Ohio Emergency Management Agency, the team and equipment can be rapidly deployed and arrive on the scene within a few hours of the request.
The National Center for Medical Readiness at Wright State University has recently assumed the role of sponsoring agency in order to provide administrative oversight and logistical support for the OMRT. Currently an extensive recruitment and training program is under development to expand the team to include pathologists, anthropologists, odontologists, radiologists, fingerprint specialists, DNA analysts and a variety of other support personnel, which would give the team the ability to better support the coroner or medical examiner in more effectively managing the incident.
Modular Emergency Medical System
The Modular Emergency Medical System (MEMS) was established to expand a community's surge capacity for patient care during a disaster-based event. MEMS consist of two separate but intertwined assets: the Acute Care Center (ACC) and the Neighborhood Emergency Help Center (NEHC).
The ACC is versatile and adaptable for any natural or human caused disaster situation and can be located near a hospital to facilitate the reciprocal transfer and referral of patients. Treatment goals of the ACC are predefined based on anticipated historical acuity. The ACC plan was developed to provide the most good for the greatest number of people while using limited resources.
The strength of the system is the adaptability of its footprint that allows for the functionality to meet each community's medical needs.
The storage and transportation platform for each ACC was originally built around a 53-foot semi-trailer. Regions were designated by the Ohio Department of Health for the initial pilot program and for ACC implementation sites. The National Center for Medical Readiness partnered with regional stakeholders to identify existing structures for ACC primary/secondary activation and storage sites. Each building considered was reviewed and scored using an assessment grid to evaluate the appropriateness of the structure. The process was repeated for each region.
The MEMS ACC concept was transformed into a working plan for the northwest, southeast, and the west central regions of Ohio, becoming a working model that can be replicated throughout the state of Ohio and beyond.
In summer 2011, NCMR received funding from Ohio Department of Health to reconfigure the ACC units into smaller, 30-foot trailers to enable faster deployment, and to integrate the NEHC into them. The new trailers can be attached to any large pickup truck and hauled to outlying areas without needing a CDL-licensed driver and can be unloaded by hand.
MEMS technology and supply-chain center
