PA DOH and Mass Care
Article Submitted by: Leslie McCurdy, PA Department of Health
Pennsylvania Department of Health (PA DOH) provides public health and medical services support to ensure adequate public health and medical services in local mass care/sheltering operations. Upon request from the affected county/counties or the American Red Cross, or the direction of Governor Josh Shapiro, Department of Human Services (PA DHS) establishes one or more state-managed shelters.
PA DOH supports and coordinates efforts regarding ESF 8: Public Health and Medical Services. Specific to Mass Care/Shelter Operations, those efforts include:
1. Provide public health and medical service personnel, equipment and supplies.
2. Provide medical screening, triage and referral.
3. Coordinate with PA DHS to provide mental/behavioral health screening, triage and referral.
4. Provide medical care for chronic and non-urgent acute conditions.
5. Provide surveillance and disease outbreak management.
6. Assist in the replacement of medications and consumable medical supplies (CMS).
7. Assist in the replacement of durable medical equipment (DME) and assistive technology (AT) to support shelter residents’ ability to function independently.
8. Provide support to the Access and Functional Needs of at-risk individuals in conjunction with PA DHS.
PA DOH responds as requested, and as able, to support an incident operation. When local jurisdictions activate mass care/shelter operations, and their public health and medical support for mass care/shelter operations capabilities need augmented or are overwhelmed, PA DOH provides assistance. PA DOH BEPR establishes public health and medical support for PA DHS state-managed shelter(s) by staffing, managing, and supplying the medical branch, when requested.
Currently, PA DOH has medical materials (ACES Kits) to support ten, 10-bed shelters. The Alternate Care-site Equipment Systems (ACES) exist to be a stop/gap solution when a situation pushes a medical system past its limitations. One ACES unit contains a 10-bed medical ward that can be delivered anywhere and set up within approximately an hour of arrival. The system is meant to be deployed to a facility such as any medical facility or gymnasium. The systems were created with the intention of one ACES unit arriving in a box truck. Each ACES unit will have a minimum of one staff member arriving with the unit to assist in the setup of the unit, and you will need a minimum of four people with the ability to lift a minimum of 35 lbs. to complete the setup. An ACES unit does not include equipment or devices that have an expiration date. Any equipment having an expiration date would need to be procured by the requesting entity.
Requesting an ACES unit for deployment purposes should be routed through your local EMA and follow the same process for requesting any other emergency management equipment. The Pennsylvania Department of Health has nine deployable ACES units and one training unit.
If you would like further information or request training for the ACES units, please contact Ronald Henschel at rohenschel@pa.gov / 717.787.8740 or paemsoffice@pa.gov.
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