Home again

Got home around 2:30am on Sunday. LONG RIDE. Spent most of yesterday recovering from exhaustion. Sleep is not something to take lightly! I feel about 90% now, and went to work today. They were surprised to see me, as I had not contacted anyone to tell them I was returning (It was Saturday when we demobilized, so no one was there to read it anyway!). Coworkers have been dropping by asking a lot of questions. I figured I would answer a few here:

Q. Where were you at?
A. We were initially going to Qualcomm Stadium, but when it was discovered that they had plenty of medical help, we were sent to Del Mar Fairgrounds (and Racetrack). We were housed most of the time at the Mission Tower. We shared the space with the CA National Guard (who also were our guards as well as fullfilling other missions). Eventually, we were moved out to another warehouse, the Multipurpose Livestock Facility. None of us saw that sign until the next morning. See the guys in the yellow vests? Those things slung over their shoulders are automatic weapons. Our security was taken very seriously. I did go to some outlying evacuation centers on a strike team one day.

Q. What did you see?
A. Lots of smoke. Saw some fire also.

Q. How close to the fire did you get?
A. Within a mile (as the crow flies), when we were in Julian. Didn't get to see that, though.

Q. What kinds of things did you treat?
A. Mostly medication needs, from people that forgot theirs when evacuating. But I really didn't treat anyone out there. Did some triage, though. Listened a lot.



Q. How many people really were evacuated from the fires?
A. The jury is still out on that, but it seems around 700,000.

Q. Got pictures?
A. Yep. Gotta post them.

Q. Got video?
A. Yep. Gotta post them.

Q. Didn't your asthma flare up?
A. Surprisingly, no. Coughed a little bit on day 3 down there, but my lungs stayed clear. (Remember, prevention is the number 1 thing! I take my meds!)

... it goes on and on.

The pics in this posting show the Mission Tower, one of many road closure signs, a crashed coworker (Note the stethoscope sticking out of her pants pocket. We all crashed hard at times, getting sleep when we could.), and my fellow nightcrawler Susan and I working "Real World Medical" (Caring for our coworkers).

I felt privileged to serve my fellow Californians as a member of the California Medical Assistance Team (CalMAT). This was our first mission; we fulfilled it, and then some.