EMS crew helps in evacuations

September 26, 2018

Anderson County EMS Deputy Director and Paramedic Bobbi Jo Henderson, Paramedic Scott Prosise and Knoxville Fire Department Paramedic Brian Buchanan returned home from Charleston, S.C., Sept 13, after spending a grueling 79 hours evacuating hospice and nursing home patients to Greenville, S.C., prior to Hurricane Florence making landfall.

“It was fabulous,” Henderson said. “I’d go again tomorrow.”

The trip was nearly flawless, with no medical emergencies and most things running according to plan, according to Prosise. The evacuees were transported in Anderson County’s AMBUS, which Anderson County EMS houses.

“Going to a hurricane was a new experience for me, being from Tennessee,” he said. “We went down during the evacuation process and were part of the first wave of people going in. It wasn’t overwhelming, but there was a lot to be done.”

Anderson County is part of Region 2, a 16-county region. The trio took the bus to Washington County, Tennessee, and met up with Region 1, according to Henderson. After a quick briefing, they got on the road and drove all the way to Charleston. They arrived at 6:30 a.m.

“The emergency operation center took over the Doubletree Hotel in North Charleston,” Henderson said. “So that was our operations center.”

After about four hours of downtime, they and the other participating buses transported 800 nursing home patients to Greeneville. The second day, they transported around 300 patients. Region 2’s AMBUS can transport 20 people at a time.

“It was a long drive,” she said. “It wasn’t an ambulance service; this was an evacuation. We didn’t have any medical equipment on board.”

All in all, they had around seven hours of sleep.

“Four hours the first morning and three hours the next,” Henderson added. “But you’re running off so much adrenaline, you don’t even have a clue.”

She went on a similar mission when Hurricane Katrina hit.

“It was a great experience for me,” said Prosise. “Bobbi Jo and I used to be partners. With Ryan from KFD, it was a good match, we got along great. All three of us were paramedics. You couldn’t ask for a better mix or a better process.”

This was the largest scale effort Anderson County EMS has responded to with the bus, according to Prosise. They also responded to the Gatlinburg fires and a gas explosion in Maryville.

“”But those were nothing compared to this,” he said.

A total of around 30 ambulances and two charter buses were involved in the mission. It was tiring, according to Prosise, but they were used to it because of how the shifts work at their regular jobs.

“When we signed up for this years ago, we knew going into it that there might be days that you don’t have sleep,” he said. “It’s something that we love to do because we love to help people. We come together and help each other. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”