Public Health and Mass Shelters

1. Public Health and Mass Shelters MA Region 4A Medical Reserve Corps Executive Committee and the Town of Concord

2. 2008 Ice Storm • Friday, December 12, 2008 • Power outages for up to a million residents and businesses in five Massachusetts counties (Worcester, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire and Berkshire). • Governor Deval Patrick declared a State of Emergency, which continued until Monday, December 29th.

3. 2008 Ice Storm Impact Area

4. Ice Storm Deployment • Region 4A provided: • 167 volunteers • 305 total shelter shifts • 111 were covered by medical personnel • Command and Control for deployment of 41 non-4A MRC Volunteers

5. Ice Storm Deployment Response Partners • American Red Cross • Upper Merrimac Valley Medical Reserve Corps • Taunton Medical Reserve Corps • Greater New Bedford Medical Reserve Corps • MA Region 2 MRC • MA Region 4B MRC • Boston MRC • Brookline MRC • Our Fathers House Nursing Home • UMass Memorial Medical Center • Hopkinton Fire and Police Department • Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) • Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) • Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) • Department of Mental Health (DMH) • Riverside Trauma Center • Public Health Departments of affected communities

6. Ice Storm DeploymentSummary • All shelters and all volunteers met their mission – to provide a safe space with food and medical care as needed. • This event provided Region 4A as well as other state and local emergency teams an opportunity to exercise our plans for a mass care event. • It also provided an opportunity for us to identify communications, delivery and deployment methods that would strengthen future responses.

7. WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

8. Natural Disaster Nuclear Weapons Biological Impact Improvised Radiological Device Explosive/ Incendiary Chemical Probability/Likelihood

9. The Concord Approach • MRC organized as a unit of CERT under Concord Emergency Management Agency • Mass Sheltering/Care is Primary Focus • Shelter Drill every 2 years • Shelter-at-Home Community Education Program • Integrated Approach

10. Concord Board of Selectmen Town Manager Concord Emergency Management Agency Town Staff Local Emergency Planning Committee ConcordCERT Concord Amateur Radio Emergency Team Shelter Management Team Concord Medical Reserve Corps Citizens Emer. Radio Network

12. CARET LINK Concord EOC NOT YET ESTABLISHED

13. Where Do I (we) Start? • Does your community have a shelter plan? CERT? Civil Defense? • Have you seen copies of the Red Cross Shelter Surveys? • Open the dialogue… • What can you do to help?

14. First Big Question…. • Who are your customers? • Community demographics • Language • Income • Housing status • Age • Housing Diversity • LTC, Assisted Living, Group Homes • Apartments/Condos • Affordable housing • Non-Residents • Office workers • Hotels • MBTA/Commuter Rail • Major highways (evacuation routes)

15. Hierarchy of Emergency Housing • I will stay in my house. I am comfortable here. I have supplies (food, water, electricity, etc…) • I will go stay with my friends, neighbors, or relatives at their house. • I will rent a hotel room, apartment, condo • I will go to a community shelter **The individual’s status is DYNAMIC, there can be movement between these stages, dependent on conditions, supplies, environment, finances, health status, etc….**

16. Shelters are not just for Housing • Just because someone stays in their home doesn’t mean they don’t need…. • Food • Water • Flush toilets • Showers • Warming/Cooling • Human Contact

17. What if you have to do this in your community?

18. How will you set up the shelters and provide all volunteers to provide safe space with food and medical care as needed to the residents of your community? • How will you exercise your plans for a mass care event? • How do you identify communications, delivery and deployment methods that would strengthen future responses?

19. Questions to Answer When You Get Home • What is your primary shelter facility? Secondary? Tertiary? Any of them in the Flood Plain? • Facility capacities? Do they have generators? What is powered by the generator? Natural gas or diesel? • Who has the keys to get in at 3am? • Do you have cots/blankets and other shelter basics? Where is it stored? Who has the keys? • Do you have the equipment for a basic first aid clinic to be setup in the shelter? • Is there space in the building or nearby for animal sheltering? • What about staffing? MRC? CERT? Amateur Radio? Police? EMTs? Has anyone been through Shelter Manager Training? • How many extension cords and power strips do you have? Outlets in the main dormitory area? • Does the shelter have a large kitchen for mass feeding? A separate dining area that can accommodate the entire resident population? Where would food come from if the shelter had to be open for 5 days? • Handicap Accessibility of the facilities? • Communications? Are there phones? Will HAM radio work inside the shelter to reach your EOC? What about UHF Police/Fire Radios?

20. Making your Plans: • The questions on the previous slide are only the beginning. • As you work with your community, more questions and answers will follow. • Please review the shelter surveys and plans with your Emergency Director, and ask how you can help. • The 4A MRC Website will soon have a section with mass sheltering resources, including plans from communities in 4A who are willing to share.

21. Remember…..You have already been planning for a Mass Care Event (Emergency Dispensing Sites). In this case you are dispensing housing, food, medical care, etc….instead of Cipro or Vaccine

22. Discussion: • What have you already done in your community? • Will your plan work? • How can you improve it?

23. MA Region 4A MRC Thank you for your time~ MA Region 4A Medical Reserve Corps Executive Committee and The Town of Concord