Longtime NAEMT member Steve Delahousey RN, REMT-P, Vice President of Operations for AMR South Central Division (MS/LA/AL/GA) will serve on the Federal Communications Commission’s new independent panel reviewing the impact of Hurricane Katrina on communications networks.

The 28-member panel will study Katrina’s effects on the telecommunications and media infrastructure in the affected area and recommend ways to improve disaster preparedness, network reliability, and communications among first responders. Delahousey is headquartered in Gulfport, Mississippi, one of the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin appointed Delahousey to chair a subcommittee focused on public safety emergency communications. Delahousey said the sub-committee will address:

• Rapid deployment of communications that can support all key agencies after disasters;
• Katrina’s impact on the Gulf Coast Region’s 911 systems;
• Whether and how the communications network could have provided better 911 service; and
• The adequacy of emergency communications before, during and after the hurricane.

Congressman Chip Pickering, R-Miss., vice chair of the House Committee on Energy & Commerce and Telecommunications Subcommittee, asked the Commission to appoint Delahousey specifically because he felt the ambulance industry should be represented on this panel.

The first meeting of the panel was held in January at the FCC offices in Washington DC.