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Highlights
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HHS Participants: 440 team members from the Rapid
Deployment Forces (primary care), Applied Public Health Teams, Mental
Health Teams, and Services Access Teams (case management).
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Partners: HHS inter and intra-agencies including
the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response,
Centers for Disease Control and the Indian Health Service. Non-HHS
partners encompassed the Environmental Protection Agency, the Air Force
Air medical Command, Texas Air National Guard, state and county
governments in Texas and Kentucky and the Health Council for the Oglala
Tribe. Non-governmental organizations comprised Remote Area Medical,
Red Cross, the Medical Reserve Corps, Sweet Grass Suicide Prevention,
and many more.
Specific Site Highlights
Operation Lone Star (OLS), TX
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OLS is an annual joint military and civil humanitarian
medical mission that takes place along the Texas-Mexico border – the
mission serves to both simulate a disaster emergency management
operation mass services model while providing health care for those in
need.
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It is the country’s largest humanitarian mission serving
mostly Hispanic Americans.
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Team members Established clinics in buildings of
opportunity at four sites including Brownsville in Cameroon County, San
Juan and Palmview in Hidalgo County, and Rio Grande City in Starr
County; team members received guidance from their team leaders located
in the Area Command in Edinburgh.
·
Over the course of the week, the collective OLS
participants saw 5,918 people, delivered education and provided 36,230
services including 7,293 vaccines to 3577 people.
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The value of services provided was $806,270
Pine Ridge, SD
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Pine Ridge was identified by the IHS Headquarters as a
tribal community with great public health and medical infrastructure
needs.
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The Pine Ridge Reservation is home to approximately 40,000
persons, 35% of which are under the age of 18 with the latest Federal
Census showing the median age to be 20.6 years.
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Life expectancy on the Reservation is 48 years old for men
and 52 for women.
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Teenage suicide rate on the Pine Ridge Reservation is 150%
higher than the U.S. national average for this age group
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The infant mortality rate is the highest on this continent
and is about 300% higher than the U.S. national average.
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The rate of diabetes on the Reservation is reported to be
800% higher than the U.S. national average.
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Teams established a temporary community medical clinic
where 730 patients received 1198 medical services in three and a half
days including crises intervention for children expressing interest in
hurting themselves.
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44.3% of the clinic patients seen were children. At
events like these hosted by non-reservation counties, USPHS has
historically seen that 3% of patients are children.
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Dental services provided: 374 total services: 130
cleanings, 124 fillings, 102 extractions, and 37 exams.
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Vision exams provided: total of 359 people for whom 329
pairs of glasses were made.
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Diabetes screening conducted and education information was
provided to attendees at the clinic.
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Data gathered and shared with water authorities will help
the local utilities maintain current systems and better maintain systems
in the event of future crisis.
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Drinking water needs assessed on public water systems that
serve 12,000 residents of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The
assessment will impact/support funding allocations for the EPA Drinking
Water Infrastructure Grant Tribal Set Aside program nationally.
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Cross-trained Tribal members on conducting a Community
Health profile which will estimate rates of several key health
indicators and aid in planning and resource distribution for health and
wellness services for over 30,000 residents of the reservation.
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Public Health Service announcements on local radio
provided information regarding behavioral health issues, such as suicide
prevention, healthy decision-making, stress reduction, parenting,
communication skills, anger management, and compassion fatigue.
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The value of the services provided was $290,420.
Paducah, KY
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Participated in National Level exercise- Paducah, an area
of critical infrastructure for continuity of government and grid
operations, lies on the New Madrid Fault Line and is susceptible to
earthquakes; at the State’s request the missions were focused on
earthquake preparedness and recovery.
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Federal Medical Station (FMS) exercises were conducted
with county and state converting and assessing feasibility of an air
dome for use as a medical shelter that would provide surge relief
medical care post-disaster.
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Team members cross trained and completed a Community
Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response (CASPER) of Western
Kentucky, covering 8 counties. The CASPER survey assessed emergency
preparedness for earthquakes and health conditions.
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405 surveys were completed, a 96% completion rate, well
above the 80% threshold. The CASPER surveys were the analyzed and
compiled to be reported to the local health department.
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Education on earthquake preparedness in Personal Care
Homes (PCH) and childcare centers was assessed and provided.
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Total value of services provided was $225,801.
 Pikeville,
KY
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Pikeville, in the hills of Appalachia, was selected
because the USPHS has a prior history of training in that location,
allowing epidemiological data to be analyzed over time.
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Pike County schools face a large obesity problem; teams
initially analyzed BMI data on all schools from the 2009 data and again
in 2010. Findings impacted school programming and results over the past
year indicate a decrease in obesity among school children. With the
assistance of the teams, the White House named Pikeville, KY a Let’s
Move! City and Town.
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Officers helped the NGO Remote Area Medical deliver over
$300,000 of free dental, vision, and general medical care in less than
48 hours- a difference seen over time was a decrease in the number of
dental extractions required and an increase in the number of people
receiving restorative care.
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Hazard respirator medical clearance exams were provided to
emergency response personnel as well as training in hazard communication
and risk assessment.
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Teams conducted well water and air sampling for 900
families, and two reports on methane and radon levels were composed and
submitted to aid the local health department. They also added mine
gases with sulfur, VOC and methane to previous analysis of EPA-TO15 VOC.
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Steered a CASPER disaster response survey in five counties
to assess community preparedness. Two-member field teams will conduct
CASPER surveys for public health preparedness in Pike (population
65,446), Floyd (pop. 41,899), Johnson (pop. 23,827), and Magoffin (pop.
13,166) counties and KY River District (pop. 116,000) in eastern
Kentucky; the CASPER survey had a 97% completion rate, well above the
80% threshold.
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Team members trained members of 4 counties on how to write
and solicit grants and created 20 potential grantees. One grant was
approved with a week.
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Total value of services provided was $525,800.
Haiti Earthquake Mission Updates
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