Texas Medical Rangers Workshop Coming This Weekend

The Office of Homeland Security at The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center is assisting in an effort to recruit health professionals and concerned citizens as Texas Medical Rangers.
The Texas Medical Rangers, a newly commissioned unit in the Texas State Guard consisting of teams of organized, specially-trained volunteers from the health professions and health-related fields, will hold a workshop on Saturday, October 29, 2005 from 9 a.m. to noon at the Large Animal Clinic at Texas A&M University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Robert Feldtman, a colonel in the Texas State Guard and an associate professor in the department of surgery at the A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, is in charge of the event and of recruiting efforts by the Texas Medical Rangers.
The workshop’s location was chosen for a very good reason. The Large Animal Clinic was recently used as a special-needs facility that provided medical care for evacuees from Hurricane Rita. The program will include a presentation by Dr. P.K. Carlton, director of the A&M Health Science Center’s Office of Homeland Security, describing how the veterinary school’s building was temporarily transformed into a facility able to address the health needs of nursing home and hospital patients evacuated from coastal areas threatened by the hurricane.
Following Dr. Carlton’s presentation, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Kissel, who is the Texas State Guard’s adjutant for intelligence, will show and provide commentary on an hour-long video on the subject of bioterrorism. The event will conclude with a “Commander’s Call” presentation of awards in recognition of volunteers who helped in the work of the special-needs facility during the Rita evacuation.
Organizers hope that individuals attending the presentation will choose to become Texas Medical Ranger volunteers themselves. The Rangers are a nationally recognized unit within the U.S. Surgeon General’s network of Medical Reserve Corps local volunteer citizen organizations.