Long Island Community Hospital Director Deploys to Oakland, CA with HHS
National Disaster Medical System Vaccination Team
In addition to his “day job” as Director of Marketing at Long Island Community Hospital, Ed Brennan is also a volunteer firefighter and EMT-CC in the East Meadow Fire Department and a member of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) National Disaster Medical System (NDMS), Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT). In late February, as part of the U.S. government’s on-going COVID-19 response, the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) deployed 21 vaccinators, including Ed, and other support staff to RingCentral Coliseum, home of the Oakland A’s baseball franchise, in Oakland, CA.
At the request of the state of California, and in support of FEMA’s efforts to augment and expedite vaccinations across the United States, the NDMS team, working with other state and local agencies, helped administer up to 7,000 vaccines a day to Californians. Deployed personnel also included a pharmacist, physician assistants, nurses, paramedics, and a safety officer, all serving as intermittent federal personnel for the 14-day deployment.
“I was both proud and happy to be part of a team that had been through the difficult days of COVID-19 and now able see the smiles on the faces of those we vaccinated as we helped put an end to this pandemic” stated the long-time NY-2 DMAT team member. Brennan had also deployed in January to Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster for an emergency department decompression mission.
Since January of 2019, ASPR has deployed thousands of medical, logistical, and command and control personnel from NDMS to help states, territories, and jurisdictions respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, NDMS is working in collaborating with FEMA to provide support in vaccination sites throughout the country.
