Hurricane Helene found local disaster worker on the scene

by Chris Studor 

The call came in on Oct. 5 and by the end of the day Oct. 6, Hinckley resident Kevin Klag was already working at Mission Hospital near Asheville, North Carolina, helping care for nursing home patients transferred there after hurricane Helene flooded the nursing homes in which they resided.

Klag is a member of 35 National Disaster Medical System teams in the U.S., which respond to all kinds of national disasters.

“When the call came in Oct. 5, we had less than a day to be at the airport to catch the next flight to the disaster area,” said Klag, who has been working with NDMS since 2019. He serves as a sergeant paramedic with the Cleveland Fire Department and his “go to bag” always stands ready for near immediate departure.

In the U.S., there are 1,400 NDMS responders who work under the U.S. surgeon general. These workers provide medical, logistic and command and control personnel in response to disasters across the country. It was just a little more than a year ago that Klag received a Civilian Service Medal for his work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Typically, we are setting up field hospitals, often right outside regular hospitals that are overrun with patients,” said Klag. “One week after hurricane Helene hit, some hospitals near Ashville were at 210% capacity. This time, rather than set up in a parking lot, we were placed at Caldwell Memorial Hospital in Lenoir North Carolina, which is located about an hour east of Ashville. 

Fortunately, Klag said, the third floor of the hospital was vacant in preparation for future hospital services.

“The majority of the patients we cared for were elderly, but there were some younger people who were accident victims,” said Klag. “I was assigned the night shift and worked with a team. A team typically consists of a doctor, physicians assistant, nurse practitioner, medics, pharmacist and logistical people. We have to bring everything with us; we even bring all our own medications to treat patients since often they are not available.”

Klag said he stayed at the hospital for 10 days and, during that time, heard countless stories of homes and businesses “being literally washed away into a pile of toothpicks.”

“We stayed in trailers, provided by the National Forrest Service, which contained bunk beds and showers,” said Klag. The Forest Service typically uses these types of trailers for firefighters battling long term forest fires.”

Klag said during his time at the hospital he and his team treated all kinds of illness and injuries.

“We were pleased that at the end of our stay in North Carolina locations were found for all of the patients,” said Klag. “We then had a turnaround of three days to Florida for hurricane Milton which fortunately, did not hit Florida as hard as anticipated.”

Klag emphasized that people whose homes were damaged by hurricane Helene still need help and that collections of food, clothing and other needed items, collected by churches, organizations and businesses of Hinckley are most appreciated.Klag said his team is not typically assigned work in October but the huge areas affected by hurricane Helene brought in the need for more workers. Klag said his team is typically contacted in November and as always, he will be ready for whatever challenge lies ahead. 

photo caption: Kevin Klag is a member of 35 National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) teams in the United States and recently worked in N. Carolina helping victims of hurricane Helene. Photo by Chris Studor