Southeast
Flood
Behavioral
Health
Disaster
11 County
Southeast
Region
Response
Flash Flooding in the SE MN
August 18/19th 2007
Seven fatalities occurred (5 in Winona and 2 in Houston county). Close to
4,200 homes were damaged or destroyed. An estimated $67 million in
damages occurred in the six declared federal disaster areas.
Fighting a fire from a propane tank on Elba’s Main St.
Rushford
Winona County Road 120
Stockton
Railroad bridge west of Winona
Request for Behavioral Health
Support Services
August 20th – 24th, 2007
• Verbal request for BH
services from the most
severely flood impacted
counties
- Houston County
- Winona County
- Fillmore County
• Written request
- BH form developed for
SEOC
MDH will help find volunteer resources
if requested through the SEOC
State Emergency
Operations Center (EOC)
MDH – DOC Logistics
Local EOC
Multi-agency Coordination
Center (MAC)
MDH MN
Responds
Local/Regional
volunteer program
BH Needs Assessment
August 20th – 24th
• Make initial contacts:
– Local Red Cross,
Government & School
officials, First response
teams, Mental Health
Centers, etc….
• Get OFFICIAL account
of incident.
– What happened?
– Who was involved?
– In what capacity?
BH Needs Assessment continued
• Assessment
– What was the physical
impact of the disaster? (# of
deaths? Homes destroyed?
Employment disrupted?)
– What segments of the
community were impacted?
(elderly, children, cultural groups,
special needs?)
– Where are they now?
(shelter, home, family, friends?)
– How are they coping?
BH Staging Area
August 24th 2007
Rochester
Staging Area – Set-up
• Communications – cell & satellite phones
• Vests & Name tags
• BH handouts - educational materials, coloring books
• Resources –local & disaster specific
• Maps
• BH Forms – data sheets, JAS, report forms, donation
tracking forms
• Supplies – hand sanitizer, water, notebooks
• Donations – cell phones, food (for staff), socks, cleaning
supplies, buckets, gift cards, crayons, books, etc…
BH Strike Team Development
• Activated existing SE Region, 11 county MOU
• Counties asked to register their volunteers in MN
Responds to be deployed as county BH Strike
Teams
• Deployment information provided to responders
• Just-in-time PFA training provided to all
responders
BH Area Command Structure
BH Strike Team response
BH Staging Area
Rochester MDH
Houston co. Fillmore co. Winona co.
BH Strike Teams
Deployed - August 25th 2007
Utilized Psychological First Aid (PFA) as
response framework to provide:
• Outreach
• Screening and Assessment
• Information and Referral
• Psycho-education
• Psychological support
• HOPE
BH Service Transition
Sept. 3rd -7th , 2007
• Zumbro Valley & Hiawatha Valley Mental Health
Centers received a Immediate Services grant
from DHS for short-term disaster response
services
• Staff from Mental Health Centers join BH strike
teams to coordinate transition of BH crisis
services
Program Overview
• Flood recovery partners (FRP) is a
federally funded Crisis Counseling
Program for individuals, families, and
groups in SE Minnesota affected by the
flood of August 2007.
Phases of Grant
• Intermediate Services Grant (August
2007-December 16, 2007)
– All three agencies were working
collaboratively but had separate
administrative control.
– Focus very much on individual outreach,
door-to-door cold calling.
Phases of Grant cont.
• Regular Service Grant (December 17,
2007-September 2008)
– Zumbro Valley MHC was selected as the
administrative lead for the program.
– Absorbed the staff from other agencies
working on the program.
– Shift in service provision from primarily
individual to more group/community efforts.
Services Provided
• Outreach Crisis Counseling Services
• Emotional Support
• Education and support for staff of local governments, rescuers, and
disaster services workers
• Education and support for business owners, religious groups and
other special populations
• Grief Seminars
• Stress Management Seminars
• Family Skill Building Seminars and Parenting Tips
• Youth Education and Support Groups
• Conflict Resolution Education
• Disaster Education
• Resource Referrals and Connections
People Served By Program
711
1032
Individual
Brief Education
Groups (Crisis
Counseling)
Groups (Public
63 Education)
1405
Identifiers
Visit Duratio Age Sex Race
Type n (1stOnl (1st Only) (1st
(all (all visits) y) Only)
visits)
1st 711 15-20 423 0-5 11 Male 304 Amer. 5
Visit min yrs Indian
2nd 157 30-44 286 6-11 13 Female 407 White 703
Visit min yrs
3rd 54 45-59 129 12- 14
Visit min 17
yrs
4th 40 60+ min 201 18- 150
Visit 39
yrs
5th 76 40- 362
Visit 64
Service Locations
113
47 Home
Other
95 420 Community Center
Disaster Center
47 Place of Woship
28 Provider Site
School
116 Workplace
172
Identified Risk Factors
Risk Factors Number of People
Witnessed destruction 602
Home had damage 555
Evacuated Quickly 454
Displaced >1week 438
Other financial loss 407
Other Statistics
• Material given to people
– 2907
• Referrals made (case managers, substance abuse
treatment, formal mental health assessment and treatment, etc)
– 547
• Other activities
– Community and Collateral contacts - 364
Future Target Service
Populations
• Children
– More involvement with schools and clubs
• Rushford-Peterson education days – hope for development of support
groups
• Lewiston-Altura support group
• Houston School outreach
• Camp Noah
• Diverse populations
– Specifically the Hispanic population in St. Charles and Hmong
population in Stockton
• Working age families
– Expanded night and weekend hours
• First Responders
– Stress management/self care training
What we Accomplished!
• Activation of regional BH MOU
• 148 behavioral health volunteers
deployed
• Over 500 individuals served
• Data collection to improve future
responses
• MN Responds utilized in volunteer
activation
• Clarified state liability and worker’s
compensation coverage for all
responders
What worked well
• Well defined mission with request
coming from local jurisdiction
through SEOC
• BH Strike Team response
• Psychological first aid training
• BH resources and tools
• Incident Command System
• Preparedness Planning!!
What could have worked better
• State EOC not used to
providing logistics for health
• Difficult to schedule remotely
for 3 service sites
• Unclear whether response
costs qualify for FEMA or any
other reimbursement
• Confusion about “volunteers”
versus county mental health
staff
Lessons Learned
• Incident Command training for
BH responders is needed
• Local & Regional BH plans need
to be completed and exercised
• Need to pre-arrange BH support
services for IC staff – scheduling
nightmare
• Behavioral health and other strike
teams are needed
Nancy Carlson
Behavioral Health Preparedness Coordinator
Minnesota Department of Health
Office of Emergency Preparedness
625 Robert Street North
St. Paul, MN 55155- 0975
Phone 651-201-5707
Cell: 651-247-7398
Fax: 651-201-5720
Nancy.J.Carlson@health.state.mn.us
MDH Behavioral Health Web Sites:
www.health.state.mn.us/oep/planning/mhimpact.html
www.health.state.mn.us/emergency/