Clarendon coroner deploys to Puerto Rico as part of medical assistance team

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MANNING - Clarendon County Coroner Bucky Mock donned a different hat last week when he flew to Puerto Rico on Aug. 27 to aid in the island's recovery efforts following Hurricane Dorian.

"I'm just happy that I can assist when I'm needed," Mock said. "I spent several weeks there in 2017 after two hurricanes hit the island. This year it was much different."

In October 2017, Mock spent several weeks in Puerto Rico after Hurricanes Irma and Maria devastated the island, killing dozens of residents and leaving millions without power.

This year, Mock said Hurricane Dorian skirted Puerto Rico, leaving the island basically unscathed.

Mock returned home on Sept. 2 in time to assist local efforts with the history-making hurricane.

Mock, who is also a forensics nurse and firefighter, is a member of the federal National Disaster Medical System's Medical Assistance Team, which is part of a federal program that supports communities with medical care, veterinary care and mortuary assistance during disasters or public health emergencies at the request of states. Resources are made available to the program by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.

"ASPR pre-positioned more than 200 medical and public health personnel, along with caches of medical equipment and supplies, into areas of greatest risk for storm impact," said NDSM Acting Branch Chief Dr. Helga Scharf-Bell. "Many of our DMAT personnel, including Mr. Mock, were first pre-positioned in San Juan, Puerto Rico, then moved to Georgia and Florida as the path of Hurricane Dorian changed."

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, teams are deployed for up to 14 days, and when needed, new teams are sent in to replace teams. Since Hurricane Dorian continued to remain a significant threat to thousands along the Southeastern coastline, new teams were moved into Florida, Georgia and North Carolina and South Carolina to assist those states. Teams will remain in place until the states no longer need support.

NDSM is comprised of approximately 5,000 physicians, nurses, veterinary staff, paramedics, fatality management professionals and experienced command and control staff. These professionals are organized into several different response teams, including DMATs, Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Teams, National Veterinary Response Teams and Trauma Critical Care Teams.