OPINION:
The 2018 hurricane season has begun: Hurricane Florence made landfall last week, bringing large storm surges to the Carolinas and dealing significant damage, including lives lost. So now is a good time to remember how important good preparation is to keeping our communities safe from storms.
We learned a lot from last year’s hurricane season, which sent several major storms — Harvey, Irma, and Maria — to the United States. From torrential rain and flooding to gale-force winds destroying property, these hurricanes illustrated the devastating impact that such storms can have on our country.
Since then, the Trump administration has acted on lessons learned from those storms and taken new steps to prepare our country.
When a community is overwhelmed by a disaster, local, and state, tribal and territorial governments often turn to the federal government. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) assists by pulling together the federal resources to provide medical care and support public health and social services work in an impacted area.
When Hurricane Maria incapacitated the health care system in Puerto Rico, for example, HHS sprang into action, sending over 5,000 personnel — both National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) reserve personnel from around the country and U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps officers — to the island. These personnel offered medical and public health support, provided mental health treatment, and supplied over 40,000 vaccinations to prevent diseases from spreading in the wake of Maria.
Earlier this year, I visited Florida International University in Miami, where I was able to thank them for hosting HHS personnel who arrived to provide healthcare after Maria. FIU also hosted patients with special needs, such as kidney dialysis, when they had to leave their homes or hospitals. I also visited Texas, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, to see the challenges of the response and recovery efforts, and to hear directly from the fantastic teams working on the ground.
Emergency efforts are more effective when every part of a healthcare system, including hospitals, public health departments, first responders, emergency managers, and state and local tribal and territorial government officials, are prepared and ready to respond. That’s why, this year, our assistant secretary for Preparedness and Response announced new support for pilot projects to build regional disaster health response systems, which leverage and enhance existing programs such as the Hospital Preparedness Program and the NDMS.
These new systems will prepare for emergency healthcare needs by expanding partnerships among a region’s healthcare stakeholders and institutions. These systems aim to better coordinate patient and resource movement during disasters and ensure that there is surge capacity to meet medical needs.
During Hurricane Harvey, for example, Texas health care organizations worked together to efficiently implement medical responses, conduct coordinated evacuations of member hospitals, and support institutions that sheltered patients in place during the storm.
HHS also helps healthcare facilities recover from disasters. This month, we awarded $14 million in grants to community health centers across Florida to continue rebuilding efforts after last year’s hurricanes. We also assisted facilities that provided care during and after storms, including health centers, by waiving certain Medicare and Medicaid program requirements, giving beneficiaries, providers, suppliers, and states flexibility to meet emergency health situations.
In hurricane areas, preparation is vital not just for healthcare systems, but also for individuals and families. Having an appropriate plan in place, with supplies at the ready, might not seem like much now, but can be a life-saver in a storm.
If you haven’t already, we encourage Americans in hurricane areas to make a few particular preparations: sign up for National Weather Service emergency alerts, discuss the best shelter and evacuation routes with your family, build an emergency kit, and think through how you will contact loved ones in the event of an emergency. If you have a condition that requires attention during an emergency, you should also talk to your doctor about what you need to do to prepare.
This hurricane season, we encourage every American in hurricane zones to prepare to keep themselves, their families, pets, and property safe during a storm. HHS, as part of the Trump administration, is already doing our part to support state, local, and territorial partners on the ground.
• Eric Hargan is deputy secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services.
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