ARIZONA RESPONDS HURRICANES KATRINA AND RITA

1. ARIZONA RESPONDSHURRICANESKATRINA AND RITA

2. Intake and DeploymentandVolunteer Experiences

3. Maricopa MRCMRC of Southern ArizonaYavapai County MRC

4. Maricopa MRCKeith Lansbury

5. Maricopa County • 4th most populous county in the U.S. • Population is 3.7 million • (60% of state’s population) • 14th largest county populous county in the U.S. • (9,226 square miles) • City of Phoenix is the 6th largest city in the U.S.

6. BACKGROUND • Maricopa MRC (MMRC) organized in late 2002 • Originally sponsored by the Maricopa County Department of Public Health, City of Chandler and the Volunteer Center of Maricopa County • By 2005, only the Volunteer Center (VC) continued to provide direct support for the MRC: • Provided fiscal support for the original MRC 3-year grant • Provided a VISTA volunteer who began a one year service period in August 2005.

7. MARICOPA MRC BACKGROUND • Maricopa County Department of Emergency Management provided a full-time Citizen Corps Coordinator who worked closely with the MMRC. • Prior to September 2005, membership consisted of approximately 120 pharmacists and pharmacy technicians and another 30 health professionals of various backgrounds,primarily nurses trained to support PODS. • The Maricopa MRC was governed by an Executive Committee consisting of the MRC Chairperson, MRC Secretary, and the chairs of the different corps: Physician/PA, Nursing, Pharmacy, Mental Health, and Paramedic/EMT.

8. TWO-FOLD RESPONSE:LOCAL • Supported state agencies in the staffing of a • shelter at the local state fairgrounds for New • Orleans evacuees • Supported American Red Cross Disaster Nurses • at same state shelter after the state health • department closed the medical clinic at the fair • grounds.

9. TWO-FOLDER RESPONSE: NATIONAL • Coordinated with the American Red Cross • Disaster Operations Center to staff ARC • shelters in the affected states • Coordinated with the Health & Human Services • Emergency Operations Center to meet the local • healthcare staffing needs in various cities.

10. LOCAL RESPONSE • Hurricane Katrina was watched by the MMRC • leadership with the thinking that, based on the • MRC responses to the 2004 hurricanes, there • might be a need for a few local MRC members to • volunteer for deployment out of state. • No local response was anticipated and a wait and • see approach was taken in anticipation of a request • to assist the National American Red Cross if • needed.

11. LOCAL RESPONSE (cont.) • On Monday, August 29, Hurricane Katrina makes • second landfall in Louisiana and the levees in New • Orleans are breached. • Many citizens are trapped by the flood waters and • evacuate to different locations. Rescues begin.

12. LOCAL RESPONSE (cont.) • On Thursday, September 1, evacuations from • New Orleans begins. • On Friday morning, September 2, State of • Arizona receives notice of pending arrival of • evacuees on Friday night or Saturday morning. • State Health Department decides to set up two • evacuee shelters, one at state fair grounds in • Phoenix and one at convention center in Tucson.

13. LOCAL RESPONSE (cont.) • Arizona Department of Health Services is asked • to set up a medical clinic to evaluate and manage • evacuees medical problems. • ADHS recruits teams of health professionals • from local hospital emergency rooms to staff clinic.

14. LOCAL RESPONSE (cont.) • Two plane loads of evacuees are received in the • first 36 hours. There are notifications of several • other flights but all are canceled except one that • goes directly to Tucson. • By Monday morning, September 5, approximately • 650 evacuees are housed in the indoor arena at the • state fair grounds.

15. LOCAL RESPONSE (cont.) • A clinic pharmacy is established and staffed • through a pharmacy service with a contract • with the state for mental health services. • ADHS utilizes an existing contract with a • pharmacy chain store to provide prescription • services for evacuees with a 2-week supply of • medications. • Evacuees’ medications are stored at the • pharmacy where single doses are dispensed as • needed throughout the day and evening.

16. LOCAL RESPONSE (cont.) • ADHS declined all help from the MMRC and • wanted to rely solely on hospital personnel to • staff the clinic and the pharmacy service for • the clinic pharmacy. • MRC received hundreds of telephone calls • from health professionals wanting to help • at clinic. • Callers were encouraged to register at the • Maricopa Citizen Corps website for possible • future service.

17. LOCAL RESPONSE (cont.) • On Wednesday evening, September 7, the Chair • of the MMRC visited clinic as part of a hospital • team. • He discovered that the pharmacy service had • been desperately looking for pharmacists and • technicians to help staff the clinic pharmacy • for the past 48 hours.

18. LOCAL RESPONSE (cont.) • He also discovered that the ARC has set up its • shelter services including a medical station • staffed by ARC disaster nurses where over the • counter medications are being given to evacuees • under ARC medical protocols. • There was no coordination between the ARC • medical station and the ADHS medical clinic • with evacuees receiving medications and • medical advice from both service sites.

19. LOCAL RESPONSE (cont.) • On Thursday, September 8, the MMRC Pharmacy • Corps began referring its members to a contracted • staffing service used by the pharmacy service to • help staff the clinic pharmacy. • Over the next 10 days, eight pharmacists and • technicians filled 12 hours shifts at the clinic • pharmacy. • Several MRC Nursing Corps nurses also • volunteered to help the ARC disaster nurses • in their duties covering ten 8-hour shifts.

20. LOCAL RESPONSE (cont.) • On Friday, September 16, the governor • announced that the shelter will close the next day. • The medical clinic and pharmacy ceased services • on Saturday at noon. • 100 evacuees were still located in the shelter. • When the pharmacy closed, all medications were • brought to ARC to continue dispensing to • evacuees. ARC protocols prohibited such • activities.

21. LOCAL RESPONSE (cont.) • On Saturday afternoon, the ARC disaster nurse • coordinator contacted the chair of the MMRC • asking for help. • Beginning on Sunday, September 18, MRC • members including pharmacists, nurses and • physicians began staffing the ARC medical • station and dispensing medications to evacuees.

22. LOCAL RESPONSE (cont.) • Over the next four days, the MRC staffed the • medical station until Thursday, September 22, • when all of the evacuees were placed in the • community. • During this same three week time period, • hundreds more health professionals contacted • the MMRC asking to help either at the • fairgrounds in the disaster affected states.

23. NATIONAL RESPONSE • During the first two weeks of the response to • Katrina and Rita, the VISTA volunteer • worked 138 hours, answering and returning • telephone calls, helping with credentialing and • answering an infinite number of questions. • With the help of two MRC members who • volunteered for 8 hours-a-day for 10 consecutive • days, and several VC volunteers, the MMRC • received more 24,500 calls.

24. NATIONAL RESPONSE (cont.) • The call volume was the result of the MMRC • being listed as the contact agency by the • Arizona Republic and AZ211, the state-sponsored • nonemergency information call center, for health • professionals who wanted to participate in the • local response to the hurricanes. • MMRC membership grew over three weeks • from 150 to approximately 800.

25. NATIONAL RESPONSE (cont.) • During the months of September and October, • the MMRC deployed 11 volunteers for two-week • assignments for the ARC. • During the same time period, 19 volunteers were • credentialed and deployed to work in HHS • designated healthcare facilities and services.

26. NATIONAL RESPONSE (cont.) • Credentialing procedures for all volunteers • remained the same as before the hurricanes • but with a priority being given to those who • completed the applications for service with • the ARC and HHS. • All deployed MMRC members who were • deployed to the hurricane affected areas, were • debriefed and offered mental health counseling • if desired. All but one declined any follow • counseling.

27. NATIONAL RESPONSE (cont.) • At a regularly scheduled quarterly MMRC • general membership meeting, several • participants gave presentations on their • experience. • With the exception of one volunteer who turned • out to be unable to work in the settings in which • she was placed and was sent home early, all • volunteers reported their service as life • changing and a willingness to serve again • the future.

28. LESSONS LEARNED • Without prior planning, developing and • delivering medical care to a large number of • people is a challenging and difficult process. • Based on their experience together at the state • sponsored medical shelter, the local ARC • chapter, the MMRC and the county emergency • management agency, are developing a plan for • a local medical special needs shelter.

29. LESSONS LEARNED (cont.) • When a disaster is catastrophic and the needs • for qualified healthcare professionals are high, • preplanning must occur to process the large • number of spontaneous volunteers that will be • requested. • This preplanning must include credentialing, • identifying those who are willing to deploy either • locally or nationally, determining minimum • notification time for deployment and • professional skills of each volunteer.

30. LESSONS LEARNED (cont.) • Since hurricanes are annual events and the need • to deploy for either ARC or HHS, may easily • occur in coming years, MRCs would be wise to • predetermine who in their organization will be • responsible for the administrative aspects of • such deployments and which members can be • prequalified to go when the request is received.

31. LESSONS LEARNED (cont.) Don’t Be Afraid, Be Prepared!

32. MRC of Southern ArizonaScott Ingram

33. Using National Service Members to Support Your Medical Reserve Corps Scott D. Ingram Director of Programs

34. BACKGROUND • What is National Service? AmeriCorps? VISTA? • Typically 15 – 20 National Service members are • assigned to the Volunteer Center • Leading Youth Programs • Tutoring at-risk youth • Supporting Disaster Preparedness efforts

35. BACKGROUND (cont.) All Volunteer Center members have been required to be certified by the Red Cross in Shelter Management, First Aid, and CPR since the Arizona’s devastating 2002 wildfire season All are enrolled as MRC Support Staff Two VISTA members are recipients of the Governor’s 2006 Volunteer Service Award

36. HURRICANE KATRINA • Two AmeriCorps*VISTAs: • Established a call center, recruited 10 volunteers to • staff it and handled approximately 1500 calls over • a three-week period • Developed a process to record information on • Spontaneous Unaffiliated Volunteers (SUV) and • keep the “War Room” information updated

37. KATRINA(cont.) • After landfall, shifted to mobilizing MRC members • and intake of medical volunteers • Created web pages with the latest information • Created just-in-time training on the American Red • Cross application and deployment process • Processed 177 new MRC applications

38. KATRINA(cont.) • Deployed 16 including 4 AMC members, one • veterinarian, several nurses and mental health • counselors • Developed notarized affidavits, a filing and • tracking system, ID badges, and a screening process • Created a survey of returning volunteers, and a • arrange post deployment counseling through the • local Victim Witness program

39. THREE PRIMARY CHALLENGES • Working within the Red Cross paradigm • Updating and confirming credentials • Debriefing volunteers

40. HOW TO CONNECT TONATIONAL SERVICE RESOURCES • Partner with local agencies that have AmeriCorps • and/or AmeriCorps*VISTA programs • Connect with you State Commission on Volunteerism • and Community Service • Offer AmeriCorps members training and integrate • them into your plans; even if they are not MRC • members, they are a valuable resource

41. 2003 – Health Department Homeland Security Corps2004 – Yavapai County MRC850 Members Emergency response Training and exercise Routine public health services Surge capacity and regional deployment Yavapai County MRCBrian Supalla

42. Aug. 28 – E-mail alert from MRC NationalSept. 1 – ARC deployment applications rec’d E-mail to YCMRC members Phone calls to members w/o e-mailSept. 2 – AZ-211 web site linksSept. 3 – Two processing stations openedSept. 6 – Partnered with non-Yavapai health departments having non-MRC volunteer corps

43. INTAKE RESULTS Sept 3: Sept 4-10:Sept 11-17: Sept 18-24: Sept 25-Oct 1: 24 (4 deployed in 72 hours)2816 9 279 (41 deployed)

44. RECRUITMENT OPPORTUNITIES • Local news releases and on-air interviews • County Fair information booth • Referrals from existing MRC volunteers

45. VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCES • Importance of personal preparedness • Deployment (prep for TOPOFF 4 in 2007) • Shelter care/Special needs populations

46. LESSONS-LEARNED • Need call-down system • Process more ID cards in advance • Inform applicants of deployment status • so notifications aren’t missed

47. CONTACT INFORMATION Maricopa MRC: Richard Thomas Richardthomas2@cox.net (602) 616-2327 MRC of Southern Arizona: Scott Ingram singram@volunteersoaz.org (520) 881-3300 x108 Yavapai County MRC: Brian Supalla brian.supalla@co.yavapai.az.us (928) 442-5485