FEAT, the Fourwheel Emergency Assistance Team, is a program of the
Colorado Association of 4 Wheel Drive Clubs, Inc. (CoA4WDCI –
www.hightrails.org). We have an agreement with the City of Denver
to provide 4wheel drive transportation to the city’s emergency
services workers, first responders, police, doctors, nurses, health
care workers, etc. We are an all-volunteer organization and you do
not need to be a member of the CoA4WDCI or a member 4x4 club. We have
been assisting Denver OEM since 1982.
Denver’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) activated us
at noon on December 20th, after it had snowed for a considerable time
during the day. We have 3 FEAT dispatcher stations in the OEM (located
in the basement of the City and County Building) with laptop computers
and 4 FEAT phone lines.
Since the 2005 storm I had been working with Denver’s IT people
to create a software package based on my Excel spreadsheet that would
allow us to track drivers and rider requests throughout the metro
area in real time, instead of trying to keep track of this information
in our heads and on scrap pieces of paper. That was our system during
the 2003 spring snowstorm. That storm dumped upto 90 inches in and
around the metro area.
We had a semi-final dry run of the software package just a week before
the Dec 20th storm and pronounced it good to go except for a few minor
changes. The basic idea is to have the computer match ZIP codes from
ride requests to the ZIP codes of available volunteer drivers and
select the closest driver. The driver then contacts the rider by cell
phone and gathers whatever information he/she needs and takes them
to their destination.
When we opened the FEAT dispatch that afternoon, the software crashed
BIG time. And we hurriedly went back to pen and paper and tried to
establish some semblance of chaotic order and standard type paperwork
forms. We were inundated with requests for rides and the 4 dispatchers
worked frantically to fill the requests. One hospital sent us a fax
request for 40 rides. I had to call them and ask them to prioritize
their requests as we couldn’t handle that many at that time.
As part of our agreement with the city, we do not transport medical
patients or medical emergencies.
Thursday was much more organized and we were even able to transport
an 84-year-old man who had walked 5 blocks to his friend’s house
and then got snowed in. He couldn’t get home to get his medication.
We took care of it. We also provided transportation to pick up and
dispense critical medications. We picked up hot food from Denver Health
and delivered it to homeless shelters. We also started delivering
dialysis patients to and from their clinics if they were getting to
a critical medical stage. We ended up transporting people from 8 hospitals,
Red Cross shelters, Health Clinics, both Jeffco and Adams County OEM's
(Office of Emergency Management). And that's just the short list.
John Henley, a FEAT volunteer, took a videographer from local Ch9
News (NBC) with him Thursday December 21st on a pickup assignment.
It was broadcast on the 5 PM news that day.
For the storm of the 20th to 22nd of December, FEAT had 36 drivers
that made 99 trips. For the 28th to the 30th, FEAT had 45 drivers
that made 90 trips. I have had 73 new FEAT applications for a total
now of 176 volunteers.
The Trailridge Runners 4x4 Club of Longmont has a FEAT agreement
with the Longmont United Hospital (LFEAT). During the two storms,
they transported over 100 hospital employees and two 9-1-1-dispatch
employees. The Team transported people from Loveland, Mead, Berthoud,
Erie, Firestone, Fredrick, Lafayette, Boulder, and Longmont. A hospital
spokesman said they might have had to close the hospital without this
help.
For more information on the FEAT program, go to www.hightrails.org
and look for FEAT on the menu on the left or simply type in www.featonline.com.
