June 22, 2021
Throughout the past year, many Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service employees responded to a wide range of disaster recovery efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, Hurricane Laura and Winter Storm Uri.
“Throughout the pandemic, AgriLife Extension personnel from around the state have been assisting in the COVID-19 recovery response by distributing medical supplies, personal protective equipment and vaccines, delivering test kits, supporting animal sheltering efforts and providing a variety of additional support services,” said Monty Dozier, director of AgriLife Extension’s Disaster Assessment and Recovery, or DAR, unit. “Their dedication and commitment to serving the people of Texas and beyond during this time has been exceptional.”
A statewide approach to disaster response
Dozier said 19 DAR agents, dedicated to COVID-19 recovery, have been deployed throughout the state, some since shortly after the pandemic began.
“Those 19 people have been deployed anywhere from several months to more than 400 days, providing onsite support in the areas of the state where they were most needed,” Dozier said. “Nine of those DAR team members were former military, so they had previous experience with deployments and adapting to unusual or difficult circumstances.”
The DAR team supports the response efforts of the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service, TEEX, and the Texas Division of Emergency Management, TDEM, as well as state and national emergency management agencies.
DAR team members and AgriLife Extension agents, specialists, regional program leaders and district administrators were sent to locations throughout the state where the TDEM and Texas Department of State Health Services, DSHS, established Regional Staging Areas, RSAs, for medical supply distribution.
RSAs were set up in all 11 DSHS regions. Staging areas were located in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, El Paso, Corpus Christi, Lubbock, Midland, Lufkin, McAllen and Tyler.
At these staging areas, AgriLife Extension responders helped with inventory, packaging, repackaging and distribution of supplies, including personal protective equipment such as gloves, gowns, face masks and shields, COVID test kits, ventilators and other medical supplies.
A new take on the Pony Express
DAR team members and other AgriLife Extension personnel were also involved in what was dubbed the “Pony Express” aspect of supply fulfillment, said Rachel Bauer, AgriLife Extension liaison to the Texas State Operations Center in Austin.
Disaster Assessment and Recovery team member Asa Jillson, right, dropping off COVID 19 samples to Civil Air Patrol pilot for delivery to testing lab. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo)
“If a health care facility or frontline operation made a request to TDEM for items related to COVID-19 relief, we made sure that order was fulfilled expeditiously,” Bauer said. “Most of these were State of Texas Assistance Requests funneled to TEEX personnel and DAR agents who coordinated or were involved in their fulfillment.”
Bauer said Pony Express efforts were also supported by TDEM, Texas Department of Public Safety, Emergency Medical Task Force, Civil Air Patrol and Texas Parks and Wildlife.
“Trucks, small and large vans, box trucks and small planes were all used to pick up or deliver personal protective equipment, new COVID-19 test kits, used test kits needing analysis, vaccines and a variety of other necessary items,” Bauer said. “Thousands of pick-ups and deliveries have been made by Pony Express during the pandemic, and this effort will continue until it is no longer needed. The DAR agents and county agents have been a major part of this effort.”
Raylene Pennington, DAR agent, based at AgriLife Extension’s office in Stephenville and working from the agency office in Glen Rose, said her most vivid memory of the pandemic was making a delivery to a nursing facility.
“I can’t remember exactly what town it was, but what I do remember is that I was met by a group of people wearing biohazard suits,” she said. “They all looked exhausted and were so grateful for the supply of personal protective equipment we brought them. You could see they had been stretched to the limit and couldn’t even spare someone to go get supplies.”