The DC Quake lit up the social media world on August 23, 2011.  According to NBC Nightly News – who does a fantastic job BTW – the quake was felt in as many as 22 states, and while Missouri was not among them, it will certainly affect therapists there.

Let me take you back to the year 2000…I was in graduate school, working as a GA in the Sports Medicine Department at Syracuse University (I had an excellent experience and education, but not so excellent winters).  I vividly recall my colleagues returning from a swimming and diving road event and the department having an urgent in-service on spine-boarding trauma victims in the water.  A diver from another university suffered head trauma while participating at the event, and there was confusion regarding proper protocol and care for the athlete.

At the time, my thoughts were along the immature and inexperienced path of how this occurrence would affect me, considering I didn’t care about swimming and diving.  Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were many in the Midwest that had a similar reaction to the DC Quake.  Companies that employ Physical, Occupational, and Speech Therapists that are responding to the DC Quake may well be responding with an urgent in-service of their own to ensure everyone’s safety in the unfortunate event of a major earthquake here in the Midwest, which we can recall from the not too distant past, is not at all far-fetched.

How is your facility responding to the DC Quake?  As a PT, OT, or ST, how are you taking this a step further and educating your patients and your family about earthquake safety?  

Please comment below.

Jason Mulholland – August 24, 2011