IV. Disaster Readiness and Assessment Summary
A. Disaster Readiness Assessment (CDRA) Ratings
Based on the work done on this Disaster Readiness Assessment, the organizations will be able to respond to medium and large scale disasters within the Greater Houston area. For the first five days of a major disaster or as directed by the local disaster management authority, the organizations will focus on triage and emergency treatment of workers, disaster victims and evacuees. The organizations will support ongoing eye treatment of disaster workers as needed, and provide ongoing care for evacuees and victims.
The largest eye disaster response within the Houston area in the past five years occurred during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. PBT; Houston Ophthalmological Society; the major Houston ophthalmology teaching institutions; the University of Houston College of Optometry; the Harris County Hospital District; volunteer ophthalmologists, optometrists and opticians; and the Lions Club vision screeners provided acute care for trauma and infectious disease; retinal and glaucoma emergencies; prescription and distribution of glasses; and prescription of eye medications for over 3,000 evacuees on site in shelter eye clinics at the George R. Brown Convention Center and The Houston Reliant Astrodome Shelter. The local eye care community treated thousands more victims outside the shelters in public and private clinics and eye care institutions.
Mobile Eye Care Teams and networks of emergency centers in Houston can be utilized for disaster response.
Trained teams of ophthalmologists, optometrists, students, and eye screeners provide services to the underprivileged and homeless of Houston, providing a mobile working team with ongoing experience in screening and triage at various sites across Houston. UHCO deploys the Eye
Van with an optometrist and students to provide eye care in Houston neighborhoods and institutions, and Prevent Blindness Texas performs regular eye screenings at many locations, including numerous homeless shelters. Experience with community outreach screening protocols, documentation of encounters, transportation of equipment, and triage of patients is an ongoing process in Houston which can be utilized by the organizations involved in the event of a disaster. The extensive network of Houston emergency centers, institutions, and clinics capable of providing eye care will be appraised of this DRP to coordinate triage.
B. Resource Directories Maintained by PBT
PBT has a Resources Directory which is located in the PBT office and maintained by PBT Staff and volunteers. The Resource Directory includes the following information:
Material Resources
Human Resources
Eye Service Early Response Team Membership by Group/Activity/Position
Shelter facilities in Houston
Houston area emergency centers, hospitals, and surgical centers equipped to treat eye patients Vendor list (Spectacle Manufacturing and Dispensing Companies, Eye Equipment, and Pharmaceutical Company Contacts)
Agreements with Vendors
Agreements with community and government partners
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