Shortly after Hurricane Katrina passed, Dow
authorized the use of its planes and the
Louisiana Aviation Department team donated
about 25 flight hours (personal time) over six
days and other coordination activities to
Remote Air Medical (RAM). RAM is a Knoxville,
Tennessee, nonprofit group that transports
doctors, nurses, paramedics and medical
supplies in emergency situations all over the
world.

The Dow aviation crew flew eight missions transporting 60 medical professionals into and out of the disaster areas with RAM in the week following Katrina. RAM transports doctors, nurses, paramedics and medical supplies in emergency situations all over the world. They flew to Mississippi, Georgia, Texas, Kentucky, Tennessee and back to Louisiana. Crew members also cleared out the seats of a Beechcraft 1900 airplane, which normally seats 18 passengers, to make room for life-saving medical supplies for delivery to some of the most devastated communities.

"A lot of great folks have been busy helping out with disaster relief," said the chief pilot. "This was just one small way we could help. Dow provided the planes and the fuel and we were able to get the right people into the disaster area to help."

When they weren't in the air, they were helping out at the Baton Rouge airport where Dow has a hangar. "One busy weekend at the airport, aviation crew members handed out water to the Black Hawk helicopter crews and other military personnel waiting on their orders. It was an incredible experience and we are grateful we could be a part of the effort," he added.

And, when Katrina hit the area, a Dow employee quickly took on his role as deputy director of Special Operations for the Livingston Parish Office of Homeland Security (HLS) and Emergency Preparedness. As a special operations officer in charge of tactical operations, he coordinated medical mission deployment with the Dow Aviation crews and worked with RAM volunteers to deliver medical help to parishes where people were stranded.

He also coordinated security assets with the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office, Arizona State 855 Military Police, French Settlement, Louisiana State Police, and the Port Vincent Police Department. Together, these law enforcement resources secured the areas, thus ensuring the safety of medical personnel and convoys, and supplemented area police and sheriff departments.

"Many of us have been trained in worst case scenarios, but this far surpassed anything we had prepared for," said the Dow employee. "It was destruction like you couldn't imagine."

He worked for several weeks in his emergency responder role and is now back to his Dow role, but continues to work and volunteer at night.

Dow is a leader in science and technology, providing innovative chemical, plastic and agricultural products and services to many essential consumer markets. With annual sales of $40 billion, Dow serves customers in 175 countries and a wide range of markets that are vital to human progress: food, transportation, health and medicine, personal and home care, and building and construction, among others. Committed to the principles of sustainable development, Dow and its 43,000 employees seek to balance economic, environmental and social responsibilities. References to "Dow" or the "Company" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted.

St. Charles Operations is owned by Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), a subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company. "Dow", as used throughout this web site, often refers generically to The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries.