Today, the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) pre-positioned approximately 100 responders in Florida and Alabama, along with medical equipment and supplies, to help protect the delivery of health care services following the landfall of Hurricane Helene.

The deployed personnel include two Health Care Situational Assessment Teams (HCSAT) who stand ready to assess the storm's impacts to hospitals, nursing homes, dialysis centers, and other health care facilities and two Health and Medical Task Forces and one Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) from the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) for rapid response following assessment findings.  

“Hurricane Helene threatens Florida with dangerous storm surge and hurricane-force winds," said Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Dawn O'Connell. “ASPR has deployed highly trained personnel as part of the combined federal and state response to ease the burden on local health systems during this difficult time, and we stand ready to deploy additional personnel, as needed."

In addition to the HCSAT and NDMS personnel, ASPR deployed an Incident Management Team and Regional Emergency Coordinators who integrate with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), state health authorities, and emergency response officials to anticipate and help the state meet public health and medical needs in the wake of the storm. Logisticians and security personnel are also pre-positioned to support.

The Disaster Distress Helpline is available to provide disaster crisis counseling. Managed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), this toll-free, multilingual, crisis support service is available 24/7 to all residents in the U.S. and its territories who are experiencing emotional distress related to natural or human-caused disasters. To connect with a trained counselor, call or text 1-800-985-5990. Spanish speakers can press “2" for bilingual support. Callers also can connect with counselors in more than 100 other languages via third-party interpretation services by indicating their preferred language to the responding counselor.

###