EDITORS:  SHEILA HALL AND TERRY SWANSON

 

APRIL 2005

 

 

Gardening

 

 

LEARNING MORE ABOUT OUR TEAM MEMBERS

 

JOYCE L. deJONG, D.O.

 

 

Dr. Joyce deJong is the Medical Director of Forensic Pathology at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, Michigan. Her department averages over 800 autopsies each year, serving fourteen counties in Michigan. Joyce is also the Chief Medical Examiner in both Allegan and Muskegon Counties, and Deputy Medical Examiner in Shiawassee County.

 

Joyce received her Bachelor of Science degree from Grand Valley State University, before earning her Doctorate in Osteopathic Medicine from Michigan State University. Her postdoctoral training includes: Internship at Metropolitan Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan; Anatomic Pathology Residency at the Grand Rapids Area Medical Education Consortium and Michigan State University, where she was also appointed Chief Resident; Forensic Pathology Training at Emory University and the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office in Atlanta, Georgia. Joyce is Board Certified with the American Board of Pathology in both Anatomic Pathology and Forensic Pathology.

 

Dr. deJong is an active member within her profession and community: she is a Fellow in the College of American Pathologists, as well as the American Society of Clinical Pathology; she is a member of the National Association of Medical Examiners, Michigan Association of Medical Examiners, and the American Academy of Forensic Sciences; she serves on the Governor’s Task Force on Children’s Justice for the State of Michigan; and she is frequently invited to speak on a variety of forensic subjects, including forensic pathology and mass fatality.

 

Joyce joined DMORT Region V, after learning about the organization at a National Association of Medical Examiners meeting, where Tom Shepardson spoke impressively about the role and significance of DMORT. Since becoming a member in 1996, Joyce has participated in a number of deployments, as a Forensic Pathologist: Korean Airlines Crash (Guam), 1997; Del Rio Floods (Texas), 1998; Hurricane Floyd (Tarboro, North Carolina), 1999; Egypt Air Crash (Providence, Rhode Island), 1999; Alaska Air Flight 261(Ventura, California), 2000; Executive Air Crash (Wilkes-Barr, California), 2000; World Trade Center Tragedy (New York City, New York), 2001; and Flight 93 Air Crash (Shanksville, Pennsylvania), 2001.

 

Joyce currently resides in Haslett, Michigan - located near Lansing.  She has two sons: Christopher – age 20, and David – age 11. In her free time, Joyce is an avid fisherwoman: she is fortunate to live on a fairly good fishing lake, and she travels to Canada every summer to enjoy the great outdoors. When she is not “reeling them in,” Joyce enjoys reading, building with wood, and working with mosaics.

 

Dr. Joyce deJong is definitely a fine “catch” on our Region V Team!

 

 

 

OHIO MORTUARY RESPONSE TEAM

 

For decades, the Ohio Funeral Directors Association (OFDA), in cooperation with the National Funeral Directors Association, have prompted others within their profession to consider the need for proper recovery and return of victims, involved in a mass fatality incident, to their families.  During the past several years, the management of mass fatality incidents has undergone dramatic changes; these modifications are based on the evolving roles of the forensic anthropologists, odontologists, pathologists and other scientists in obtaining positive victim identifications.  Also, there has been an increased focus on appropriate evidence collection and crime scene preservation, resulting from events, such as the 9/11/01 tragedy, recent disaster incidents, and the awareness of possible future terrorist activities. 

 

Fortunately, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) have enabled Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Teams (DMORT) to assist local Coroners/Medical Examiners, who have jurisdiction over victim remains. 

 

There is an increasing possibility that multiple mass fatality incidents may require the use of local morgue/mortuary resources to augment the two federally available Disaster Portable Morgue Units (DPMUs): there may be situations where federal support is disqualified, or local personnel and resources need to be utilized, until federal assistance arrives.  In response to these potential scenarios, the Ohio Funeral Directors Association, the Ohio State Coroners Association, and the Ohio Emergency Management Agency have created and funded an Ohio DPMU. 

 

On October 9-10, 2004, the Ohio Funeral Directors Association Mortuary Response Team (OFDA-MRT) hosted a workshop at the Medical College of Ohio in Toledo.   The workshop was designed to assist in the interaction between local authorities and state/federal agencies, in the event of the aforementioned scenarios, and also to encourage seamless transitions when appropriate. There were over forty participants, including Coroners, Medical Examiners, Funeral Directors, Embalmers, Emergency Management Personnel, Forensic Pathologists, Anthropologists, and Odontologists.

 

Lecture topics featured: The New Unified Command System; A DMORT Overview;

The Incident Morgue; Family Assistance and Information Resource Center, VIP and WIN ID; The Process of Identification; The Role of Forensic Anthropology; The Role of Forensic Odontology; and The Role of Fingerprinting. 

 

On the final day, there was a morgue exercise, utilizing a completely assembled DPMU by the OFDA-MRT. The OFDA-MRT and DMORT members participated in this exercise.

 

Overall, this two-day workshop provided an excellent learning experience for everyone who attended, especially DMORT attendees from Indiana and Minnesota, who are in the process of establishing their own state morgues.

 

 

IMMUNIZATION UPDATE

SUE ATWOOD

Administrative Officer

 

Region V members,

 

We have limited funding available for immunization reimbursement.  Submit your paid receipt with immunizations itemized to Sue Atwood for reimbursement.  These will be handled on a first come, first serve basis.  Immunizations not required will not be reimbursed (see list below).  Because of limited funds, there may not be funding for every member to be reimbursed for every immunization.  In order to make best use of these funds, please try to obtain your immunizations at the lowest cost possible.

 

Required list:

1.  Influenza, annual

2.  MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) 1x only

3.  Polio (IPV) 1x only

4.  Tetanus-diphtheria (Td) every 10 yrs

5.  Varicella (chickenpox) 1x only

6.  Hepatitis A, 2 doses

7.  Hepatitis B, 3 doses

8.  TB skin test (PPD) annual

 

Your Region V leadership team

 

 

 

 

 

 

REGION V ANNUAL TRAINING SESSION

JUNE  3-5, 2005

 

MIKE GEDERT

Training Officer

 

The DMORT Region V Annual Training will be held June 3-5, 2005 in Columbus, Ohio.  This session will be multi-dimensional, including both classroom training and a full-scale drill, in collaboration with multiple local, state, and federal agencies. 

 

The classroom sessions will take place on Friday (June 3) and Sunday (June 5).  Representatives from the agencies participating in the drill, as well as DMORT V specialists, will speak on a wide range of topics: a discussion of specialized forensic applications- such as digital dental x-ray support in morgue operations, forensic mission protocols, the importance of forensically obtained positive identifications while working with local coroners and medical examiners; informative updates from the NTSB, NDMS, and DMORT; a strategic planning meeting prior to the drill, followed by a complete evaluation afterwards.

 

The drill will take place on Saturday (June 4), at the Rickenbacker Airport in Columbus.  It will be a multiple agency drill, emphasizing on the transition from a local response, to a state response, and ultimately to a federal response.  This will be one of the first drills of its kind, involving agencies from every level, a fully operational mobile morgue, Family Assistance Center, and Information Resource Center.  

 

The scenario of the drill will be a plane crash, resulting in multiple casualties and dozens of fatalities. It will progress from an initial fire and EMS response for the injured, to a state, and then federal response for the fatalities.  The primary working areas, during the drill for DMORT members, will be morgue operations, family assistance, data entry, assistance with identification, and notification of death.

 

Morgue operations will simulate all working areas in a functional mobile morgue. The Ohio Funeral Directors Association Mortuary Response Team (OFDA) Mobile Morgue will be utilized for the training.  OFDA team members will be involved in the initial response and set-up of the morgue; they will then turn over operations to DMORT, after federal response has been requested.  At that time, OFDA team members will maintain a presence in a support role, under DMORT command.

 

Registration for this training has already begun. In consideration of additional deadlines imposed by NDMS, the deadline for registration is April 10.  The training will be limited to 100 DMORT participants, due to budget restraints; therefore, register NOW if you are interested in attending the training. But, DO NOT make any travel plans, until it is confirmed that you will be attending the training. 

 

Additional information will be provided to all registrants, as soon as Team Leadership receives final approval for the training. 

 

Please note: the NDMS Pre-deployment Core MUST be completed to attend this training.  Also, keep in mind that the deadline for the remaining online training is August 1, 2005.