Scripps Health is sending a medical response team to Chico made up of five nurses. They’re going to help victims of the Camp Fire which has killed at least 56 people.
"There’s a whole lot of survivors that don’t need to be in the hospital — don’t need to go to the emergency room — but have medical issues," said Scripps Health President and CEO Chris Van Gorder.
Cal Fire said there are over 5,000 firefighters trying to put out the Camp Fire. Now California’s Emergency Medical Services Authority, which is in charge of coordinating disaster medical response, is asking for some help.
"In fact what we heard from them - say - yesterday (Wednesday) was that they were desperate for doctors and nurses to come up and help support them in the shelters," Van Gorder said.
RELATED: Veteran Volunteers Help San Diego County Fire Victims
The Scripps nurses will not be working in hospitals. Instead, they will be staying in shelters with people directly affected by the fires. Scripps has had a medical response team since 2001.
"We’ve been to Hurricane Katrina — the Gulf after Katrina," Van Gorder said. "Haiti. We were out in Rancho Bernardo after the wildfires in 2007, and Nepal in the last couple of years. So it’s a very experienced team."
Scripps said it was asked to deploy to Chico for one to two weeks. Van Gorder said they are in the process of getting a second team together if they need to be there longer.
