Operation Lifeline: health care professionals from Maryland respond to Hurricane Katrina.

Governor Robert Ehrlich was notified through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) (www.emacweb.org) that Aaron Broussard, the president of Jefferson Parish in Louisiana, had put out a call for help in meeting the medical needs of the area’s 452,000 residents. Governor Ehrlich activated the MDDF, a volunteer organization within a military structure, comprising health care professionals willing to go to the site of a natural or manmade disaster to provide medical, psychological, and legal resources for the affected population. Deployment to Louisiana in response to Hurricane Katrina marked the first time the MDDF had been called to service outside the state during its 88-year history. (The MDDF was created by the Maryland legislature in 1917 [http://www.mddefenseforce.org/history.htm].)