Community EMS (CEMS) and six of its joint venture entities responded to Hurricane Gustav as a part of the FEMA disaster response team. Activated at approximately 9:00 p.m. Thursday, August 28, 2008, CEMS formed a convoy and headed for the Gulf Coast Region, arriving at Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas at 5:30 a.m. (Central Time) on Saturday, August 30, 2008.

 
At 12:00pm Saturday, 22 CEMS employees, 11 emergency vehicles and one support trailer carrying medical equipment, vehicle maintenance supplies, bottled water, and Meals Ready to Eat (MRE's) from Michigan and Ohio were deployed to Beaumont, Louisiana as part of a 250 ambulance task force prepared to evacuate the city.  Six CEMS units were assigned to assist nursing facilities and St. Elizabeth Hospital with evacuation efforts.  Out of the 250 units deployed, 65 ambulances were needed to evacuate the Hospital.  Five CEMS ambulances were sent to Orange City, LA, located at the Texas/Louisiana border, to assist with 911 calls. 

When the category 2 storm touched land, all crews were pulled back to San Antonio to wait further instruction.  After the storm hit, one CEMS strike team was deployed to western Louisiana to assist with patient care in hospitals and nursing homes due to flood conditions. "Many facilities had back up generators that failed, and overall conditions became too inadequate to properly handle patient needs", stated Phil Koster, CEMS Operations Manager.  The other two strike teams remained in San Antonio to assist with 911 coverage for all evacuees at Kelly Air Force Base. 

When asked when CEMS would be returning home, "deployment back to Michigan is unknown at this time", said Koster.  "We are all safe, but very fatigued.  The weather conditions are extremely hot and crews worked 20hr. days during the first 2 days with very little rest.  There's also been a tremendous amount of driving involved.  Some patients have had to be driven 3 to 5 hours away from where they were picked up, yet everyone's in good spirits and eager to assist", added Koster.

For more information, CEMS established a Blog, just as they did for their response to the Katrina/Rita Disaster in 2005.  At anytime, on site CEMS employees can post information regarding the activities and events taking place at the command center and surrounding areas. The website address is: http://gustavresponse.blogspot.com.