The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last week launched a collection of online federal resources and capabilities available to mitigate the health impacts of emergencies.
The HHS Response and Recovery Resources Compendium is aimed at assisting state, tribal, territorial, and local officials in health and emergency management as they guide communities in responding to and recovering from disasters.
The compendium offers an easy-to-navigate, comprehensive, web-based repository of HHS products, services and capabilities available to state, state, tribal, territorial, and local agencies before, during, and after public health and medical incidents.
The information spans 24 categories, and each category showcases the relevant disaster resources available from HHS and partner agencies, a brief description of each resource and information on accessing each one. Highlighted categories include:
- Situational Awareness
- Mass Care & Emergency Assistance
- Public Health Surveillance
- Medical Care Personnel
- Medical Equipment and Supplies
- Patient Movement
- Hospital Care
- Decontamination
- Drug, Biologic & Device Safety
- Blood Products & Services
- Food Safety & Security
- Agriculture Feed Safety & Security
- Worker Health & Safety
- Public Health & Medical Information
- Vector Control
- Environmental Health
Resources include platforms such as GeoHEALTH and the HHS emPOWER Map that use Geographic Information System capabilities to support health response as well as consultation services, such as emergency planning, disease surveillance and tracking, and food, drug and device safety.
Resources also include personnel, such as medical staff from the U.S. Public Health Service and National Disaster Medical System who can deploy to communities to augment local hospital, shelter or public health staff.
“HHS and our federal partners offer an array of products and services to support communities in emergency situations, but sometimes finding what’s available and how to access those resources can be challenging,” explained Dr. Nicole Lurie, HHS assistant secretary for preparedness and response. “With the compendium our partners know what resources they can count on when they need it most and, importantly, how to request them.”
According to HHS, the compendium will be updated regularly and expanded as federal agencies add products, capabilities and services to help communities prepare for, respond to and recover from the health impacts of disasters.
