Health Care Logistics Response in a Disaster.

Logistics operations are interwoven among the very fabric of emergency management and no aspect of a health care organization’s business processes goes untouched by tenable supply chain management. The purpose of this work is to provide lessons observed during a response and recovery scenario resultant of a snow avalanche that occurred in Afghanistan north of Kabul. The lessons documented throughout this work are specific to how Soldiers, while deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, were faced with one of the most unlikely of scenarios conceivable – responding to a natural disaster. In this work are observations, relayed by organization-level leadership during a deliberate After Action Review (AAR) related to communications, preparedness, warehouse security, the development of cross-functional teams, the adherence by clinical teams to a single source of supply, equipment and supply accountability, and the development of appropriate pre-configured push packs to support future scenarios such as the one experienced on February 9, 2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]