By J. Lyn Carl, GalleryWatch.com
Austin, TX –
With Hurricane Rita bearing down on the Beaumont-Port Arthur area of the Texas Gulf Coast and torrential rainfall predicted to cause massive flooding in Northeast Texas if the storm stalls over that area as predicted, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt today declared a public health emergency in Texas.
A similar declaration was issued for Louisiana, where the Ninth Ward area of New Orleans is being inundated with floodwaters again after breech of levees.
The public health emergency declaration will ensure the two states quick access to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) full range of emergency response assets and resources for cities, hospitals and others in need of public health assistance in responding to Hurricane Rita.
"We are mobilizing all of our capabilities to help provide care and assistance to the victims of yet another major storm," said Leavitt, who visited South and Central Texas evacuation centers following the devastation from Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
The HHS Operations Center remains in communication with state and local emergency management officials, other federal departments and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and has since late August prior to Hurricane Katrina striking the Gulf Coast.
HHS already is working with Texas and Louisiana officials in state emergency operations centers and federal regional coordination centers in Denton and in Atlanta, Ga. The HHS Secretary's Emergency Response Team (SERT) is working out of the Joint Field Office in Austin and another SERT is located at the Joint Field Office in Baton Rouge, La.
Additionally, the Strategic National Stockpile is on alert and "push packages" of medical supplies and materials are ready to ship. The equipment and supplies can supply four Federal Medical Shelters, each with 250-bed capacity and are being pre-positioned in Texas. Two such shelters are set up on the Texas A&M University campus in College Station and the other two will be stationed in Austin when the storm clears.
The entire U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps has been activated to respond in the aftermath of the storm, with officers on alert across the country and ready to be sent, if needed, to respond to the needs of hurricane victims. More than 3,500 healthcare workers have been credentialed from the HHS volunteer database and can be activated to respond as temporary federal employees.
Leavitt also reports that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has four teams of 20 people ready to deploy after the storm hits the coast. Some three dozen public health staff already are in Texas ready to provide assistance at shelters, hospitals and local health departments.
The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) today issued a plea for doctors, nurses and other health care professionals to volunteer to provide care for evacuees who have moved inland from the Texas coast to escape Hurricane Rita, with the State Health Commissioner saying there is an "urgent" need for health care professionals licensed or certified in Texas to volunteer to assist in triaging and treating evacuees in general population and special health needs shelters located throughout the state.