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That we are living in extraordinary and unpredictable times was driven home once again by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Still, the degree to which the nation is not prepared to respond to a major catastrophe surely came as a painful shock to most citizens and even caught most experts off guard. Concerned about all of the basic assumptions we’ve made in the past about preparedness, I would like to see a new national discussion about what prepared means, how it’s measured and what we should expect. Since 9/11, the nation has spent tens of billions of dollars on preparedness, yet we can account for very little and can hardly say what has actually been accomplished. In the meantime, The NCDP has responded aggressively to the devastation caused by Katrina in an initiative named Operation Assist (OA). This program is a collaboration with the Children’s Health Fund (CHF), a non-governmental organization that has been providing mobile health care to some of the country’s most medically underserved communities since its founding by singer-songwriter Paul Simon and me in1987. In addition, the CHF, has been actively promoting access to care for all children as part of a robust national advocacy agenda. Operation Assist was launched by the CHF/NCDP just days after the hurricane struck, deploying three CHF mobile units and medical teams to some of the hardest hit communities in Biloxi-Gulfport and SE Louisiana. Our teams have met with relevant public officials at all levels of government who are involved with disaster recovery. Richard Garfield, PhD was designated “deputy director for public health” of OA. Under the NCDP agenda, expert teams have been deployed to assess the broad public health implications of the disaster, create mobile field capacity for diagnosing toxic and biologic hazards and support other local public health strategies. Dr. Ian Lipkin and Marco Pedone are playing key roles here. OA is, in essence, a highly integrated medical and public health response
to one of the most destructive natural disasters in the nation’s
history. The NCDP has also expanded its research agenda. Investigators from the NCDP are helping to understand factors critical to ensuring an essential healthcare workforce during disasters, issues affecting building evacuation and the needs of special populations in disaster planning. In particular, the NCDP is focusing on the needs of children and people with disabilities. And the NCDP is concerned about how individuals and families can prepare for disasters. In fact, on this site we publish guidelines that people can actually use. I hope this site provides a useful overview of what we do and where we’re going. Certainly, the challenges ahead are extraordinary. But we hope to continue playing a role in helping to ensure that the nation’s capacity to plan for and respond to disasters, natural or otherwise, is optimized in the months and years to come. Sincerely, Irwin Redlener, MD Director |