Fall 2005 Issue
Hurricane Response: Emergency Fund Provides Vital Services and Supplies
On September 1, 2005, CDC director, Dr. Julie Gerberding, asked the CDC Foundation to activate its Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund to support CDC response teams deployed to the Gulf Coast. Because of the scope of Hurricane Katrinas devastation, Dr. Gerberding requested that the fund also be made available to CDCs state and local partners engaged in the emergency public health response.
Kaiser Permanente made a lead gift of $2 million to the Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation contributed $1 million. The CDC Foundation received an additional $132,000 in gifts from hundreds of individuals and organizations, including the American Thoracic Society, Arch Chemicals, Consumers Union and Pfizer. In-kind gifts also supported public health response teams. Dell contributed 100 laptop computers, and AirTran provided complimentary travel to the Gulf Coast region.
Because of the Fund, the CDC Foundation was able to immediately respond to requests for help from state and local health departments in the Gulf Coast region. Working with CDCs Marcus Emergency Operations Center, the CDC Foundation provided $100,000 to both Louisiana and Alabama to purchase prescription medications for hurricane evacuees. The Foundation filled this urgent request within 48 hours, helping to immediately put medications into the hands of evacuees with chronic health conditions like, high blood pressure, asthma and diabetes.
The Foundation also quickly provided grants for health departments to purchase other needed supplies and services, such as emergency dental, hearing, vision and mental health services for evacuees; travel vouchers for volunteer health responders; satellite phones, cell phones and laptop computers for responders on the frontlines; and a patient information hotline to help connect evacuees with health and medical services.
The Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund also directly supported CDC experts deployed to the Gulf Coast. Armed with credit cards linked to the Fund, CDC responders were able to purchase the supplies and services they needed to get the job done, from banners to promote hand washing to wireless internet cards.
The CDC Foundation now is working with CDC and state and local health departments to help rebuild the public health infrastructure so that local public health experts can return to business as usual. In Mississippi, the Foundation is helping the state acquire two specially designed modular medical clinics to restore public health services in Hancock and Jackson Counties. Both counties health department buildings, along with most of their equipment, were destroyed by the storm. GE manufactures these modular clinics and has generously agreed to donate one of the two facilities valued at $458,200.
“In the midst of all the trauma, the assistance from the CDC Foundation is like a life line,” says Kathy Beam, the district administrator for Hancock and Jackson Counties and four additional coastal counties in Mississippi. “We needed a health department and ‘poof’ here it comes. We are immensely grateful. The one thing we want is to get back in the public health business. Our people want to work, and these new facilities will change everything.”
The CDC Foundation anticipates that other communities may request similar assistance. In addition, state and local health departments are requesting assistance to meet specific long-term health needs, such as mental health services for those affected by the tragedy.
The CDC Foundation is seeking additional gifts to the Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund to help fill these requests and to help prepare for future public health emergencies. To make a gift, give now online or call (888) 880-4CDC.