Hopkins Go Team: Up And Running

After months of planning and almost 275 applications, the team’s founder and organizer, Dr. Christina Catlett, has selected 175 team members for the Johns Hopkins Go Team.

They’ll serve as the first multidisciplinary, stand-ready reserve of Johns Hopkins employees that can respond quickly to major catastrophes anywhere in the United States.

The first Go Team group includes a diverse cross-spectrum of the Johns Hopkins community, including physicians, physician extenders, nurses, mental health providers, technicians, pharmacists, dieticians, IT specialists, administrators, and others.  Catlett, CEPAR’s Associate Director for Health System Preparedness, said the strong pool of talent  will be trained to deploy and respond quickly to assist communities and fellow medical colleagues in local, regional and national disasters, natural or manmade.

The training schedule for the team, backed by a federal grant, has been set for this fall and during the winter. In mid-October the team underwent its first outdoor training exercise.

Future training programs will include principles of basic and advanced disaster life support, team building, field safety, incident command, communication and the proper use of team equipment.
“I’m really excited to see the team finally formed and to get our training underway,” said Catlett, a physician in the Dept. of Emergency Medicine.

Her background includes leading disaster teams in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Ivan to assist victims and fatigued medical workers.

 “Disasters can occur at any time and immobilize or destroy a region’s healthcare system, so we want to be well-trained and ready for anything as soon as possible.”

Catlett said she was pleased to see such a large applicant pool, a testament to high interest in the concept and serving others in need. She said applicants not chosen for the team will be put on a wait list to serve as back-up members.

Want to learn more? Visit the Go Team web site here.