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Weapons of Mass Destruction Preparedness and Response for the XIV Pan-American Games, Santo Domingo, 2003

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

Amado Alejandro Báez ,
Matthew D. Sztajnkrycer ,
Ediza M. Giráldez  and
Hugo Pérez Comprés
Amado Alejandro Báez*
Affiliation:
Division of Trauma, Burns, and Surgical Critical Care, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Dominican Society of Prehospital Medicine, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Matthew D. Sztajnkrycer
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
Ediza M. Giráldez
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Dominican Society of Prehospital Medicine, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Hugo Pérez Comprés
Affiliation:
Dominican Society of Prehospital Medicine, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Central Armed Forces Hospital, Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Dominican Air Force, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
*
Amado Alejandro Baez, MD, MSC Brigham and Women's Hospital, Neville House 226, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA 02115, USA E-mail: aabaez@partners.org
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Abstract

The Pan-American Games are considered to be the fourth most important international athletic event in the world. Hosted by the city of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, the XIV Pan-American Games lasted from 11–17 August 2003. In preparation for the Games, the Security Directorate developed and deployed a Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Unit. For operational support, two strike teams (Alpha and Bravo) were active at any given time. Each team consisted of five members including a team leader, field physician, explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) officer, and two tactical offi-cers. Three hospitals—two military and one civilian—were designated as pri-mary medical centers for the event. With the assistance of the WMD Unit, emergency department staff were trained in the medical management of a WMD event, response protocols for WMD were created, and special decon-tamination areas were designated. Syndromic surveillance was performed by means of direct communications between the hospitals and units, as well as use of an electronic, Web-based surveillance tool.

Keywords

Dominican Republicgamesmass-gatheringPan-Americanterrorismweapons of mass destruction
Type
Special Report
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 21 , Issue 4 , August 2006 , pp. 256 - 260
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2006

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