Year 4. January 13. Unimaginable.

The events of the last week will leave an indelible imprint on all of us. We have all been impacted in various ways by the unprecedented wildfires that have ravaged our city of Los Angeles. From loss of homes to evacuations, power outages, poor air quality, and uncertainty about what is coming next, there is no member of our community whose lives have not been upended in some way.

Many of you have reached out me to inquire about my family and home and I am grateful for that, so let me share my story. During our budget and salary negotiation meeting on Tuesday morning, we received the first alert that a fire had broken out in the Pacific Palisades, and as we looked outside at the wind blowing through the trees, there was an unspoken sense that things could get worse very quickly.

We continued our work, and my last meeting of the day ended ~ 6:30 pm. By then, I began to receive word that many of our faculty who live in the Palisades, parts of Brentwood and Santa Monica were being evacuated. I asked my wife to get our “to go” bag in her car. At 7:15 pm while my wife and I were eating supper the lights flickered and we lost power. Our power was ultimately restored on Thursday morning, so we “camped” in our house for a couple days. By Wednesday morning when the scale of the fires was becoming clearer our department leadership and the wellness office mobilized to brainstorm about how best to support our broader DoM family. More on those efforts later in this message.

During our power outage, my mother called as she was hearing news in Jamaica that LA was on fire. I told her that we were OK and managing without electricity. She had experienced 3-days of power outage when Jamaica was hit by Hurricane Beryl last July and she worried about our food spoiling. I reassured her that we were not as hot as Jamaica and that we were probably going to be OK if the power outage did not last more than 3-days, and besides, I was bringing home some warm food. Our sense of normalcy was relatively brief. As we watched the skies from our house on Friday afternoon, it came as no surprise when we received an alert saying that our neighborhood was now under an evacuation warning.

This happened while we were (again) eating supper. So, we packed our bags and loaded up our cars in preparation. We decided to sleep in the house on Friday night with our clothes on, in case the evacuations became mandatory. Things improved on Saturday, so I am still at home on Sunday morning as I write this. We fortunately had time to organize things and pack, and we will be fine, I believe.

But this is not be the case so for many of our colleagues who literally had to leave their homes on Tuesday and Wednesday with just the clothes on their backs. I do not know the exact number of DoM members who are still evacuated, or still without electricity, but I do know that as of Sunday morning, 24 members of our faculty and community have confirmed their homes have been completely lost, mainly in the Palisades and a smaller number in Altadena. The numbers could increase though as colleagues return to their neighborhoods in the coming days. Others in our department have watched as homes of loved ones, grandparents, parents, siblings, in-laws and children have been lost, and I know that many of you are now housing extended family members, friends and neighbors in your homes.

I want to personally, and on behalf of the DoM, express our sorrow and sympathy for your loss and reiterate our commitment to support you in whatever we can. I have communicated directly with everyone whose home has been lost, and uniformly I have heard that despite the devastation, how grateful they were to be members of such a supportive community and conveyed their gratitude for the emotional and material support and encouragement that they have received so far.

I want to thank and acknowledge all our faculty, house staff, fellows, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses and clinic staff who have gone above and beyond to ensure that our clinical operations remain uninterrupted. I know of many colleagues who have reported for duty while under evacuation. I heard how patients scheduled for chemotherapy were accommodated when it emerged that some facilities had to have their operations suspended either because of evacuation or poor air quality in the facility. I heard about those of you who came in at short notice to cover for your colleagues who had to address pressing personal needs related to the fire and its aftermath. I heard about how we had to evacuate 180 veterans from the north part of the VA campus, including sending patients to Long Beach and Loma Linda. I have heard about efforts by our residency leadership to actively mitigate stress among our incredibly hard-working house staff. I want to thank those of you, who have prepared meals, care packages, donated clothes, purchased gift cards and provided other practical assistance to colleagues in need. For all these efforts let me express my heartfelt gratitude for your courage, commitment and service to our patients and to each other.

Mobilizing Our Collective Resources to Support Each Other

Our DoM Wellness Office, under the leadership of Dr. Sun Yoo, has been working overtime to reach out and support the members of our community most heavily impacted by the fire disaster. You have seen the daily updates about resources that are being identified or being made available. Some of these resources are community resources, others through the University and many representing grass roots support by members of the DoM. There has been much happening behind the scenes that is not public, but I have heard from many of our most severely impacted colleagues how overwhelmed they have been by the support that they have received from colleagues and friends within our community. I want to especially thank the many of you who have offered your homes to other DoM members for temporary relief as they grapple with the reality of not having a place to live. All these actions, large and small, are inspiring and reflect our department’s commitment to its people.

Our first priority continues to be your well-being. We recognize the hardship you are experiencing, both mentally and physically, and we will continue to work diligently to optimize resources to support you. For example, our ambulatory leadership has deployed the REST program to cover InBasket messages for primary care colleagues who have been displaced by the fire and unable to access Care Connect or need respite while attending to urgent personal matters. We are exploring ways to expand this to our subspecialty colleagues. I believe that many specialties have already begun to cover affected colleagues in various way, but we want to ensure that no one is left behind or falls through the cracks.

We will continue to share updates through DoM Announcements and through our dedicated blog post about the fire, which contains a comprehensive list of our communications as well as resources from UCLA campus, the health system and beyond. Please review our announcements from the DoM Wellness Office to access information on supplies, housing and support. You can stay informed about the latest operation updates at our hospital and clinical facilities through UCLA Health News – Fire Update; get campus updates by visiting UCLA Bruin Safe Online; and find DoM-specific updates at DoM Connect.

If you are seeking opportunities to get involved, we continue to seek donations and volunteers to offer housing to displaced colleagues. If you would like to share additional ideas, please reach out to us at DoMWellness@mednet.ucla.edu.

Like every emergency, the road to recovery will be long. After the adrenaline rush subsides, the reality of rebuilding and recovery can be hard. The department is committed to supporting all of you in the many days ahead, as best as we can.

As I watched the steady parade of air tankers flying over my house all day Saturday, I want to acknowledge the tireless efforts of all first responders, fire fighters and public safety officials whose efforts have contributed tangibly to mitigating the impact of the terrible events of the past week.

I am also grateful for the many messages of support and solidarity that I have received from friends and colleagues across the country and indeed the world letting me know that their thoughts and prayers are with us during this challenging time. Is it reassuring to know that we are not alone as we work as a community to recover from these tragic events and emerge stronger on the other side.

Dale

P.S.

When my granddaughter heard that there was the possibility that we would be evacuating our house, she had one request. Save Panda and Polar bears!

I reassured her that we made space in the car for them!