VMATs aid rescue efforts in New York City

摘要

Sept. 26--Dr. Barry Kellogg has witnessed the terrible power of nature firsthand. In September 1995, he was part of the relatively new Veterinary Medical Assistance Team deployed to assist relief efforts in the U.S. Virgin Islands in the aftermath of Hurricane Marilyn. Four years later he was activated when Hurricane Floyd pounded the coastlines of the Carolinas and much of the eastern seaboard. But nothing prepared the Massachusetts practitioner for the destructive force man was capable of unleashing."I have never, ever seen, nor been involved in, anything like this," Dr. Kellogg said about the devastation where the World Trade Center's twin towers stood until Sept. 11. Soon after the attack, the Federal Emergency Management Agency dispatched VMAT-1, one of four regionally based teams, to provide medical care for 40 of the agency's urban searchand-rescue dogs sent to locate survivors. Dr. KelIogg,VMAT-1 commander, explained that his team was nearest to the city and could deploy the quickest, since all air travel had come to a halt.