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News Release

HHS SECRETARY THOMPSON FORGES PARTNERSHIP WITH AMERICA'S NURSES
TO ENHANCE PUBLIC HEALTH PREPAREDNESS

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the American Nurses Association (ANA) to enhance public health preparedness efforts in the event of a public health emergency or bioterrorist attack.

The MOU designates National Nurse Response Teams (NNRTs) as an operational component of the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) -- a nationwide network of volunteers primed for rapid deployment in a disaster or emergency situation. HHS, the Department of Defense, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Department of Veterans Affairs jointly administer the NDMS.

To date, more than 900 nurses have volunteered for the new teams, which are tasked with providing patient education and counseling, administering immunizations and other activities.

"HHS is leading the nation in responding to and preparing for the possibility of future bioterrorist incidents," Secretary Thompson said. "Building our public health capacities at the federal, state and local levels will better equip us to deal with outbreaks of all kinds, including both potential bioterrorism and natural outbreaks. These nurses will be on the front lines, and HHS is committed to helping them care for the American public in a time of crisis."

Today's agreement is part of HHS' expansion of emergency preparedness resources. In addition to the MOU, HHS has:

• Added 2,000 more providers and five new Disaster Medical Assistance Teams to the NDMS.
• Doubled the size of the Readiness Force within the department's Commissioned Corps, expanding it from 600 to 1,200 personnel.
• Continued to add more cities in the Metropolitan Medical Response System, with 122 cities in 40 states now covered.
• Expanded operations of the department's Office of Emergency Response to remain active 24 hours daily.

"The ANA is extremely pleased to be partnering with HHS in this endeavor," said American Nurses Association President Barbara Blakeney, MS, APRN, BC, ANP. "Registered nurses have always answered the call from our country's leaders when the unique and valuable skills of nursing were needed. We now have another opportunity to serve this country."

As the NNRT sponsor, ANA will serve as the conduit to recruit registered nurses, relying on its capacity to reach thousands of nurses through its relationships with state nurses associations and national nursing organizations.

The MOU calls for establishing a nursing team in each of the HHS' regional locations -- Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, Kansas City, Denver, San Francisco and Seattle.

Specifically, HHS has outlined several goals to help the new response teams become operational, including offering support in the areas of development and organization, administrative management, training, and program development and delivery.

"The nature of terrorism and mass casualty incidents requires a high level of coordination among federal, state, local and private resources," Secretary Thompson said. "First responders will be local, and we need to help them be prepared. But such an event could quickly overwhelm local resources. We need to have nurses ready to provide expertise in emergency responses involving biologicals that are either naturally occurring or manmade."

In the last year, HHS' budget to prepare the nation for bioterrorism has increased ten-fold, and it will continue to increase almost 50 percent more in the next year. Bioterrorism spending at HHS was $305 million in fiscal year 2001, and is $3 billion in fiscal year 2002. The President's budget request proposes $4.3 billion for fiscal year 2003.

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

Last Revised: January 16, 2003