sure , bumps and bruises . Due to the persistent tropical weather , multiplied by the stifling full Tyvek suits that we were required to wear in the morgue , the role of medical support was mission critical .
Every day of the mission would basically begin the same way , with roll call and team briefing at 07:00 . At that early morning meeting , the team assignments were given out and the tempo for the day would be set . Our operations involved four essential steps : investigation , recovery , identification and disposition .
Investigation Element ( IE ) teams would take the incoming case reports from the DoS and attempt to validate the information and to pinpoint exactly where the remains were believed to be . IE teams investigated more than 100 different sites . This turned out to be a most valuable step in reducing unnecessary efforts by the rest of the team .
If the IE determined a bona fide location holding American remains , then a Recovery Element ( RE ) team would be dispatched to the site to perform the disinterment from the rubble . This RE activity was a cooperative interagency
The 500 room Hotel Montana completely collapsed killing several people and leaving a massive area of debris .
Utilizing a completely digital approach , we could identify human remains using many forensic techniques , including ( but not limited to ) dental , fingerprint , or DNA comparison . Our DPMU is electronically linked to a remote site ( Miami , Florida for this mission ), called the Family Assistance Center . The Family Assistance Center Team ( FACT ) collected all of the antemortem information from family members and victim ’ s stateside dentist necessary for comparison and matching to the data retrieved from postmortem examination performed in the DPMU in Haiti . Identification through this morgue process was a major contribution of the dental contingent of this mission . With the identity of the American victim determined and following the family ’ s wishes , repatriation of their remains was accomplished through cooperation with the U . S . Army ’ s Mortuary Affairs Unit . The remains were transported via military transport to Dover AFB in Delaware , where they were released to family . After the two-week rotation was completed , the journey home involved another stop in Atlanta for debriefing , a proper shower , a cooked meal and sleep in a hospitable bed ( in that order ). The snow in Atlanta had melted by then , but there was no such luck for Philadelphia . After digging out from two weeks of accumulated snow in long-term airport parking with a makeshift cardboard shovel , the frigid drive home ended at the bottom of my driveway . Eight inches of new wet snow had blocked my triumphant return home to my house . As I drudged up the buried pavement to retrieve my snow blower from the garage , my hometown “ freezer ” now didn ’ t seem quite so bad . effort . The largest single site RE in Haiti was the mountaintop Hotel Montana . The Hotel Montana was a five-star hotel overlooking the city and bay of Port au Prince , which completely collapsed during the quake , killing 17 Americans and countless others . DMORT was only part of a large scale , multi-national recovery mission there . Day after day , backhoes and dump trucks would painstakingly remove debris as forensic experts would inspect each bucketful for remains and / or personal effects . By the end of the six-week mission , all of the 17 had been recovered from the Hotel Montana . Once recovery of remains was accomplished , they were transported back to the DMORT base camp to be processed through our Disaster Portable Morgue Unit ( DPMU ).
After positive identification , American fatalities were returned home with honor and respect .
November / December 2010 • Pennsylvania Dental Journal
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