6/30/09: Disaster Watchdog Calls On Gov. Barbour To Act On Special Session Emergency Prep. Bill

June 30, 2009

Contact: Ben Smilowitz, 314-761-7631

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Willing Health Volunteers Will Be Turned Away in Future Disasters
Disaster Accountability Project Calls On Governor Barbour To Act During Special Session

(June 30, 2009) The Disaster Accountability Project is calling on Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour to introduce legislation during the current special legislative session that will avert a public health disaster in the event of a major hurricane this year. Louisiana’s legislature passed the bill unanimously in recent weeks.

The Uniform Emergency Volunteer Health Practitioners Act (UEVHPA), fixes a dangerous gap in Mississippi’s disaster response capacity, realized in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, where hundreds of qualified, out-of-state volunteer health-care practitioners were either denied the opportunity or delayed in their efforts to help. By tackling interstate liability issues and creating a system that allows health-care practitioners to pre-register to serve in the event of an emergency, the bill helps ensure that these problems will never happen again.

Specifically, the bill creates a system that recognizes licenses of out-of-state health care practitioners. In the event of a declared emergency, the State of Mississippi would be able to request out-of-state, pre-screened practitioners and utilize them in close cooperation with, and under the auspices of, state and local emergency management agencies. The bill passed unanimously in the Louisiana House and Senate and is awaiting Governor Jindal’s signature. It has also been signed into law by seven other states including Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas.

“I witnessed this dangerous legal impediment firsthand while managing American Red Cross Client Service Centers in Gulfport and Biloxi, in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,” said Ben Smilowitz, Executive Director, Disaster Accountability Project. “Highly skilled volunteer nurses and other health practitioners deployed to the region, by the American Red Cross and other organizations, could not provide more than basic first aid to storm survivors. Many reported feeling as if their hands were tied despite their qualifications to do so much more,” said Smilowitz. “Unless Governor Barbour takes action now, Mississippi residents will be left extremely vulnerable and could face a dangerous health-care breakdown reminiscent of the bungled Hurricane Katrina response.”

More information on the UEVHPA can be found here:

http://www.uevhpa.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabindex=1&tabid=69

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The Disaster Accountability Project (DAP) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to the improvement of the United States disaster management systems through public accountability, citizen oversight and empowerment, whistle-blower engagement, and policy research and advocacy. The Disaster Accountability Project’s website is https://disasteraccountability.org.

A toll-free hotline (866-9-TIP-DAP) is available as a public service for disaster survivors, workers and volunteers to report critical gaps in disaster prevention, response, relief, and recovery services or planning. The group is recruiting a national network of Disaster Accountability Monitors and Bloggers to help report, verify, and publicize gaps in disaster services or planning.

Disaster Accountability Project is a 2008 Echoing Green Fellowship Organization.
For more information: http://www.echoinggreen.org/fellows/ben-smilowitz

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