The Board of Director's awarded the National Certificate of Merit to Hospital Disaster Support Communications System (HDSCS) based out of Orange County, Ca. during our recent Board meeting. They will be featured on a Discovery Channel program on 20 Feb. This was sent out by Joe Moell K0OV our ARDF Liaison HDSCS Participates in New TV Documentary Members of the Hospital Disaster Support Communications System (HDSCS) of Orange County, California have been included in tapings for a new documentary series on the Discovery Channel. "Critical Rescue," a series of hour-long programs featuring rescue workers and those who support them saving lives in large and small disasters, makes its debut in February 2003. Episode 2, titled "Fateful Journey," recounts the true story of a morning of emergency response training in Southern California that turns into a day of real tragedies and rescues when two trains collide. "Fateful Journey" is scheduled for its first broadcast in prime time on 20 February. A team from New Dominion Pictures, an independent production company under contract to Discovery Networks, spent a half-day with HDSCS last August. They interviewed founder and leader April Moell WA6OPS and taped reenactments of communications that took place during the HDSCS emergency net of April 23, 2002. On that day, HDSCS members were awaiting their assignments for one of the four large-scale disaster drills that are staged in Orange County each year to test procedures for victim triage, dispatch, and communications. At 8:10 AM, a 6000-ton mile-long freight train struck a standing Metrolink double-decker commuter train at a crossing in Placentia, causing three deaths and over 200 injuries. The drill was immediately cancelled, and as fire and police rescuers converged on the train crash scene, area hospitals braced for the wounded passengers. As Net Control, WA6OPS quickly deployed HDSCS members to the 14 hospitals most likely to receive victims. There they handled countless messages, verifying victim dispatch and patient counts, locating victims prior to completion of the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) database, providing hospitals with information for inquiring victim families, and communicating with Amateur Radio operators supporting the Red Cross. Within some hospitals, HDSCS provided direct links to handle messages between triage areas, Emergency Departments, and Command Posts. A total of 28 HDSCS members participated in this drill-turned-disaster, after which they received individual recognition from the hospitals and from Orange County Emergency Medical Services Agency. Additional HDSCS operators videotaped or audiotaped for possible use in the Discovery program were Sam Creason K6EW, Cheryl Simpson KD6MWZ, Ralph Swanson WB6JBI, and David Mofford W7KTS. On other days, the producers taped reenactments of victim triage, treatment and transport at the Placentia crash site and at least two hospitals. It is not known how much of the HDSCS footage will appear in the edited program. HDSCS is a specialty group of the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES). It was formed in 1979 with the specific mission of providing backup communications that are critical to patient care. Since then, HDSCS has responded following 75 communications emergencies ranging from hospital telephone system failures to area-wide disasters such as the Laguna Firestorm, Anaheim flood and Whittier earthquake. Regular drills with the hospitals are important for preparedness, and HDSCS has activated for 123 of them to date. For its 23 years of service, HDSCS has received awards and commendations from many hospitals and agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The most recent is the National Certificate of Merit from the American Radio Relay League, awarded at ARRL's Board of Directors meeting on January 17, 2003. Scheduled airings of "Fateful Journey" are at 8 PM and 11 PM on February 20, and at 2 PM on February 22 (Eastern and Pacific). The Discovery Channel is one of the two most widely distributed cable networks in the United States, with over 85 million subscribers, and is the most widely distributed television brand in the world, reaching over 400 million households in 155 countries. New Dominion Pictures, headquartered in Suffolk, Virginia, produces four of Discovery Channel's five highest-rated series. One of these, "The New Detectives," is rated as the most popular series on all of cable TV in America. More information about HDSCS can be found at www.hdscs.org Joe Moell K0OV Assistant EC, HDSCS -- ************************************************ ARRL The national association for Amateur Radio Remember, Helping Others....Always Worthwhile!! Southwestern Division Vice Director Are you a member yet? If not, please join! Personal Web Page: http://www.qsl.net/nz6t