National disaster managers recognize Keesler medics Published April 18, 2007 By Steve Pivnick 81st Medical Group Public Affairs KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- Two 81st Medical Group medical readiness members, Capt. Pamela Brown-Grayson and Master Sgt. Wayne Hanes, won the National Disaster Management System's 2006 Outstanding Achievement Award for Exceptional Service. "Sergeant Hanes, Federal Coordinating Center coordinator, and Captain Brown-Grayson, FCC team chief for one of eight Air Force FCC hospitals, expertly rebuilt the 81st Training Wing FCC after Hurricane Katrina," said Col. Anthony Lonigro, 81st Medical Group administrator. "They initiated a $167,000 emergency-response trailer purchase to ready Keesler for any area Defense Department or civilian disaster." The pair established memorandums of understanding with 25 NDMS hospitals, securing 1,362 beds. They manage and maintain peacetime and wartime contingency readiness for the Air Force's largest medical group. "Captain Brown-Grayson taught herself and the entire Keesler FCC team to use the TRACE2S, the Air Force's patient tracking system," Colonel Lonigro pointed out. "Her knowledge was beneficial in validating Keesler Medical Center's specialty capabilities by assigning 150 specialties in the system. "Sergeant Hanes quantified 12-bed status reports, ensuring the southeast region's availability to accept patients," the colonel continued. "He trained the FCC team on a variety of issues and created a FCC help page, which hyperlinks files with directions from patient reception areas to partnering hospitals." Sergeant Hanes and Captain Brown-Grayson, members of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Area Healthcare Executives, coordinated the first post-Katrina table and field exercises for Keesler initial responders and AMR, the area ambulance service. They distributed emergency resource guides to 25 hospitals within three states disseminated more than 50 CDs about Lifesaver, the largest national homeland defense exercise to date involving nine states and more than 7,000 participants.