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September 3, 2008
Little Rock --The Arkansas Department of Health is continuing to respond to the public health needs of Hurricane Gustav evacuees in our state. According to Dr. William Mason, Incident Commander at the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) Emergency Operations Center (EOC), one of the most urgent needs families face right now is staying connected. “Our first concern is for the health and safety of the folks that have had to leave their homes, but we know that hospital patients and their families have been separated by the storm, and they need to be re-united with relatives as soon as possible,” Mason said. “Family members that are trying to find out about their relatives that were evacuated to Arkansas hospitals can call the hotline at 1-800-651-3493 for more information on the locations of friends or relatives in Arkansas.”
“Our previous experiences with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita three years ago left us with some good plans for this event,” Mason said. “We are pleased with how well all the other state agencies are working together, and with our coordination with other local and federal officials, as well as with officials in other states.” More than 2300 evacuees that were sent by government transportation arrived at Ft. Chaffee over the weekend. Currently, 160 clients have been evaluated in a temporary facility by the volunteer Medical Reserve Corp (MRC), a volunteer group of medical professionals, led by Dr. Bryan Clardy at Ft. Chaffee. The Arkansas MRC is a network of volunteers dedicated to ensuring that public health needs are met during a disaster. MRC volunteers supplement existing emergency and public health resources.
Another 269 patients that were in hospitals in New Orleans were admitted to area hospitals in Arkansas. Of these, 263 were admitted via the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS). The National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) is a federally coordinated system that supports the Nation's medical response capability in terms of medical teams and personnel, supplies and equipment.
The Department’s Environmental Health Specialists have been conducting inspections of county shelters statewide to assure that food and water safety and shelter sanitation issues are being addressed.
The Department’s nurses and epidemiologists are also carefully monitoring the evacuees, watching for signs of illness in the shelters in order to prevent an outbreak of disease. ADH public health nurses, In Home Service Nurses and Communicable Disease Nurse Specialists are working at Ft. Chaffee and assisting in other centers. The department is also working with evacuees regarding pharmacy and special needs issues, and coordinating efforts with agencies in other states and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.
“Our role in the protection of public health will continue as we move into the next phase, which is to help these folks get back to their homes as safely as possible,” Mason said.
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