2002.03.08:Secretary Thompson Thanks "9/11" Rescue Workers

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FOR RELEASE
Monday, March 11, 2002

Contact:

HHS Press Office
(202) 690-6343

SECRETARY THOMPSON THANKS "9/11" RESCUE WORKERS
Outlines Total HHS Assistance Delivered

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today thanked some 2,000 HHS-supported rescue workers and public health professionals who responded to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Of the total, 1,364 were volunteer health and mortuary professionals who provided their services as part of the nation's National Disaster Medical System (NDMS). More than 600 others were health professionals from HHS' Commissioned Corps Readiness Force and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

HHS will complete its rescue-related work at the World Trade Center site in New York City this month.

"These men and women worked hundreds of thousands of hours, responding to the needs of thousands of New York City residents and rescue personnel," Secretary Thompson said. "They left home for weeks at a time to help those in need. They exemplify the compassion and undaunted spirit of our great country."

The NDMS includes teams around the country that can be brought together quickly and deployed in emergencies. Members of the teams are volunteers. In responding to New York's needs, personnel from 63 different response teams were deployed, including members from all 10 mortuary teams in the NDMS, members from all four veterinary units in the NDMS, and members from five of the six Burn Support Teams.

The "9/11" response in New York constituted the largest NDMS deployment ever:

Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMATs) aided over 9,500 rescue workers with injuries ranging from broken bones to eye and skin irritation to heart failure.
Mental Health experts conferred with 6,100 federal responders at Ground Zero.
Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Teams (DMORTs) supported New York City Medical Examiner's office, processing 15,528 human specimens, 270 bodies, and identifying 750 victims.
Veterinary Medical Assistance Teams (VMATs) received more than 900 canine visits mainly for exhaustion, dehydration, and sore paws.

On Sept. 11, within minutes of the attacks on the World Trade Center, Secretary Thompson had declared a national health emergency making the NDMS and Commissioned Corps ready for deployment. HHS' Office of Emergency Preparedness made immediate deployments, and some 50 tons of backup medical supplies were also provided to New York that day.

In subsequent weeks, HHS also responded to the nation's first anthrax mail attacks. HHS helped provide the needed antibiotics for those potentially exposed, and HHS personnel helped dispense the drugs to thousands of people in New York and Washington, D.C.

Since then, dramatic new steps have been taken to increase preparedness for bioterrorism, including creation of a new HHS Office of Public Health Preparedness, procurement of more than a billion doses of antibiotics and 155 million doses of smallpox vaccine, expansion of the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile, and initial new funding of $1.1 billion for states to help them better prepare for bioterrorism attacks.

HHS is funding a total of $301 million in response and recovery activities as a result of the Sept. 11 attacks.

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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at www.hhs.gov/news.

SECRETARY THOMPSON THANKS "9/11" RESCUE WORKERS Outlines Total HHS Assistance Delivered

SECRETARY THOMPSON THANKS "9/11" RESCUE WORKERS
Outlines Total HHS Assistance Delivered