The Ohio 1 Disaster Medical Assistance Team (OH-1 DMAT) is a Federal response unit made up of highly trained health care professionals and support personnel. The mission of OH-1 is to provide compassionate medical care to victims of disasters (natural or man made) as a part of the unified response component of the National Response Plan. The team, originally organized in 1985, has been formally a foundational component of the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) since 1990. The members of the OH-1 DMAT have a long and distinguished history of service to our country.
Once having met Federal employment criteria, team members are then classified as part time, intermittent federal appointment employees of the Department of Health and Human Services and are called to active duty when situations require the specialized services of the team. Our team members come from communities in North Central and North Eastern OH, Northern IN, South Eastern MI and North East IL. Composed of approximately 150 personnel, we maintain a “Ready” state of preparedness and remain in a “go-team” posture 24/7/365.
Historical Chronology of OH-1 Deployments and Assignments
- 1992 – Hurricane Andrew, Miami FL Provided direct treatment to almost 900 patients and made an additional 3,000 health assessments doing door-to-door outreach.
- 1995 – Hurricane Marilyn, St. Thomas, BVI.
- 1996 – Olympic Games, Atlanta, GA
- 1997 – Grand Forks, North Dakota floods
- 1999 – Hurricane Floyd, Fort Jackson, SC
- 2001 – Presidential Inauguration, Washington, D.C.
- 2001 – World Trade Center, New York City, NY
- 2001 – United Nations Congress, New York City, NY
- 2002 – Olympic Games, Salt Lake City, UT
- 2002 – Typhoon Pongsona, Guam
- 2004 – Hurricane Frances, Orlando, FL. Established a ’super shelter’ in the Orange County Convention Center capable of housing 3,000. Established a field hospital as support for the shelter.
- 2005 – Hurricane Katrina, Covington High School Special Needs Shelter – Covington, LA and West Jefferson hospital augmentation – New Orleans, LA. Completed two full DMAT missions as well as two medical strike team missions.
- 2005 – Hurricane Rita, LA
- 2005 – Hurricane Wilma. One team member deployed for the Medical Strike Team
- 2005-2006 – Logistics Team members deployed to Maryland to support Katrina re-supply
- 2008 – Republican National Convention, 3 team members deployed to support Incident Response Coordination Team
- 2008 – Hurricane Gustav, 44 member team deployed to Austin, TX to provide medical support for New Orleans Acute Care evacuees
- 2008 – Hurricane Ike, 10 members deployed individually to support OH-5, OH-6, IA-1 in the Houston and Galveston Island (UTMB) areas as well as rural LA.
- 2009 – North Dakota Red River Basin Flood, 35 Team members deployed to Bismark
- 2010– 5 Person strike team to Haiti earthquake relief. Chief Medical Officer to Incident Response Coordination Team US Embassy/PoP Haiti
- 2010– 2 Strike Teams consisting of 5 total members deployed to Louisiana to provide responder medical care secondary to the Deep Water Horizon oil spill
- 2011 – Full DMAT & Medical Strike Team deployed to CT and then VT in response to Hurricane Irene
- 2012 – 2 menber training team deployed to the Democratic National Convention/ Charlotte NC ; 17 clinical members deployed as backfill for TN-1, FL-1, MN-1 and NC-1 – to NYC and NJ in response to Super Storm / Hurricane Sandy
- 2012 – Hurricane Sandy, 25 members deployed as backfill to FL-6, NC-1, TN-1, MN-1 to set up and staff family medical stations, temporary shelters, and acute care clinics.
- 2013-12 member Strike Team assigned to 4th of July medical coverage – Mall of America/Washington DC
- 2014-MAC-ST members deployed – State of the Union Address/Washington DC
- 2014-Full OH-1 DMAT (50 members) including MAC-ST personnel deployed – Peace Officers Memorial/Washington DC. 5 members of training staff deployed as teaching cadre for just in time training.
- 2014 – 2 Physicians from OH-1 deployed to support the Concert for Valor as part of the Veterans Day Celebration in Washington D.C.
- 2017 – Full team deployment to Texas for Hurricane Harvey
- 2017 – Backfill deployments (AZ-1 and TX-1) for Hurricane Maria
OH-1 DMAT Leadership
Unit Commander – Richard Hess Jr, RN-BC, CCM, CNLCP richard.hess@hhs.gov
Deputy Commander (Acting) – John Woycitzky, RT, EMT-P
Deputy Commander (Acting) – Gerald Debien, EMT
Team Medical Officer – Alisa Roberts, DO, FACEP alisa.roberts@hhs.gov
Administrative Officer – Lauren Yeagle lauren.yeagle@hhs.gov
Logistics Chief – Scott Rahrig, EMT
Communications Chief – Timothy Miller, EMT
Training Officer – Jeff Orphal, EMT-P