Updates From The Stockpile: September 2017

The stockpile supports state, local, tribal, and territorial public health emergency responders and strives to ensure needed resources are available and ready to deliver to the right place at the right time. Learn More.

Hurricane Harvey: SNS Response

Federal Medical Station setup at George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas.

The Strategic National Stockpile supported the federal government’s response to Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Louisiana with Federal Medical Stations (FMS), personnel strike teams, and liaison officers. Overall, the stockpile deployed 6 FMS sets with 250 beds each, 12 FMS strike team members, 1 liaison to the Incident Response Coordination Team in Texas and 3 liaisons to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary’s Operations

Center in Washington, D.C. Two FMS were set up and operational in Houston – one at the George R. Brown Convention Center and the other at the NRG Center. An additional four FMS were ready on standby – two in Texas and two in Louisiana – so they could be set up at a moment’s notice. Approximately 45 staffers also served in the stockpile’s team room at CDC headquarters.

HHS issued a news release on the FMS deployment on Monday, Aug. 28, and additional HHS news updates on the Hurricane Harvey response. Since activating on Thursday, Aug. 31, CDC has also launched web resources for more information about response activities. If you are curious about what happens at the HHS Secretary’s Operations Center, check out this news report from Fox News, which features an interview from HHS Secretary Tom Price and showcases stockpile experts hard at work (timestamp :50 – 1:03).

CDC’s #StrategicNationalStockpile supports #Harvey response in TX & LA w/staff and Federal Medical Stations. Learn more.

September is National Preparedness Month

Throughout September, CDC and more than 3000 organizations will support emergency preparedness efforts and encourage Americans to take action.  This year, the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response will focus on four important topics – READY… STEADY… SHOW… GO! Learn more.

READY: Pillowcases Are Not Just for Pillows

During Hurricane Katrina, a Red Crosser noticed college students were carrying their belongings in pillowcases as they evacuated to emergency shelters. Their actions inspired The Pillowcase Project, which uses an everyday household item to hold the necessary items for an emergency kit. Putting all of these supplies in one place makes it easier to grab and go in the event of an emergency.

The Pillowcase Project has reached over 800,000 children both nationally and globally. Trained instructors, mostly volunteers, share the curriculum with children in schools, after-school programs, summer camps, scout groups, and various venues.

Read more about the story of one Red Cross volunteer’s experience working as a Preparedness and Casework Specialist in Alaska.

Get updates about other activities in September on our National Preparedness Month website.

Stockpile Operations Course Prepares Public Health Professionals

Several times a year, CDC’s Strategic National Stockpile  and Division of State and Local Readiness (DSLR) present a 5-day SNS Operations Course, held at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Center for Domestic Preparedness in Anniston, Alabama. In June 2017, 32 state and local public health professionals traveled from as far as Washington State to learn how the stockpile works, how they might use resources during a public health emergency, and to gain hands-on best practices for an effective response when stockpile items are deployed.  Summer courses were held in June and August. The next course will be in October.

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A Closer Look: Preparing Minnesota to Receive, Stage, & Store Stockpile Products

In a public health emergency that requires stockpiled medical countermeasures, readiness at the state and local levels to receive and make effective use of these products is critical.

In an effort to ensure operational readiness in Minnesota well before stockpile materials are actually needed, state public health partners recently tapped stockpile experts for training and exercise support to specifically prepare their receipt, stage, and store (RSS) facility and personnel for activation.

Heeding Minnesota’s request for support, Strategic National Stockpile’s Rick Bishop and Daryl Shannon traveled to Minneapolis in March 2017, to conduct an onsite, two-day RSS training course at a local office building and maintenance facility, which offered approximately 40,000 square feet of empty floor space for conducting the highly interactive hands-on course.

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Global Preparedness: Stockpile Experts Advise Senegal

CDC’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response sent a team of experts from Strategic National Stockpile and Emergency Operations to Dakar, Senegal on the continent of Africa in July 2017 to help develop a public health emergency operations center.

The team met with representatives from the Senegal Ministry of Health and Social Action, Senegal National Fire Brigade, Senegal Red Cross, Civil Protection Directorate and Ministry of Livestock and Animal Production to examine and gather information on Senegal’s medical supply system.  “This visit allowed us to learn about Senegal’s medical supply chain and how it responds in a public health crisis,” said Steve Adams, stockpile expert. “We will use this knowledge to develop training material for a medical countermeasures workshop for Senegal.”

As a result of the meeting, Senegal leaders decided to commit resources and staff to schedule a workshop in 2017.

For more than 17 years, stockpile experts have helped domestic partners plan medical countermeasure operations. Its facilitators and advisors are recognized for their diligence and expertise.

In continued support of the Global Health Security Agenda action package for medical countermeasures, the stockpile will continue its global work in support of GHSA goals to improve medical logistics preparedness worldwide.

Learn how partner nations can receive this service. Contact snsquestions@cdc.gov.

Content source: Division of Strategic National Stockpile

Strategic National Stockpile is a division of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response.