Storm Chaser Medical Advisory Hotline 2006

[Chris Sokol]

Awesome man...absolutely awesome. It's great to see people who are willing to still give their time to help people with no strings attached.

 

[Jason Persoff]

Just a quick note to again thank everyone for the warm response. I've had several PMs and emails with medical questions--all of which were very gratifying to assist in. Please don't feel that anything you ask is "out of bounds"--I'll let you know if I'm not comfortable with something. I've had requests to determine fitness for chasing (which if you have a heart condition, I'd recommend you avoid the GFS for right now ) to second opinion consults.

I wanted to note that I accepted Tim's very warm offer and I owe a thank you as well to all of his clients who so warmly extended me as an honorary member.

I just finished stocking my medical kit and am excited that I'll be able to deliver even more this year on-site:

***Suture services. Found some great medical kits made for those who are away from healthcare facilities to perform field surgeries. If you are near where I am (which is a good bet given how chasing unfolds daily) and have a wound you aren't sure needs sutures or not, I will be able to perform a range of services in the field. I have numbing medication and gels, and can perform this painlessly.

***Antibiotics. I should have a pretty good supply to match almost any infection with any drug or allergy profile. Contact me if you think you may need these. If I can't dispense one to you, I can call in prescriptions to nearby pharmacies.

***IV Fluid/Shock Trauma. Hope I don't need this, but I have a fully stocked shock kit in case of motor vehicle accidents, multiple traumas, tornado/hail injury, etc. It's always worth calling me AFTER you've called 9-1-1. Depending on the area we're in, I may actually be able to provide higher level trauma care than available by local EMS. This includes resuscitation equipment.

As with all my services, I will accept NO payment: these are free to the chasing community and to any community affected by disaster. I will not even charge you for equipment or medication. FREE means FREE.

Stay safe and I'll see you out under the SPF 30 sunshine (based on the latest ECMWF) next week .

Regards,

Jason

 

[David Drummond]

Jason, I have to say IMO this is about the coolest thing I think ANYONE has ever done for the chasing community!

 

[beaudodson]

Nice work!

 

[Jason Persoff]

The medical hotline will be extended indefinitely at this point. Since many chasers will be out in the field trying to salvage a tough season, I will continue the phone service probably through mid-summer. Increasingly I'm thinking of just making it permanent as it seems to have been helpful for those who've used it.

A couple of quick notes:

***I'm no longer on the Plains--back to work in Jacksonville, FL, so I'm obviously not able to provide any on-site services (unless, of course, you come hurricane chasing this year--then give me a buzz ). I will not be back on the Plains until late May '07 (man that sucks).

***It is far better to call me on the phone than email me if it's about a medical issue. My spam filter has gone above and beyond the call of duty and has filtered desired mail to the "spam folder" (whilst still allowing special top secret stock offerings, and celebrity-child animal-object monkey-giraffe pornography offerings without fail into my inbox). If you don't hear back from me by email, it usually means your email has been filtered. PM me through the ST boards if you're not comfortable calling me--I've been prettty good about checking the boards daily.

Don't hesitate to contact me with any other issues or concerns!