Hurricane Katrina Relief Information

A Message from the CDC

Colleagues,

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been inundated with volunteer requests for support of the Hurricane Katrina emergency response from you, our partners, representing volunteerism both for individual support and also for housing, transportation, medical equipment, supplies, and medications.  We are ever so thankful for your outpouring of this humanitarian volunteerism.

We are now requesting that you redirect your requests from volunteers who contact your organization to the following sources:

For public health workers employed by state and local public health agencies, please volunteer through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), an agreement among 48 states to share resources during a disaster.  More information about the EMAC can be found at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) website and also specifically at the EMAC website.

For multidisciplinary healthcare professionals and relief volunteers from non-public health organizations, the Federal Government is mobilizing and identifying individuals with expertise in several specific professional areas that are included at the CDC web site.  If your volunteers have professional expertise which is included in this listing, then please visit the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) web site, and please complete and submit the online form to volunteer these individuals.  If your volunteers have questions regarding the online application, please call the Hurricane Katrina Volunteer Call Center at 1-866-KATMEDI (1-866- 528-6334).

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as the lead agency in the Hurricane Katrina emergency response, is also involved in mobilizing and identifying individuals.  FEMA is completing more general volunteer coordination linking volunteers to several national voluntary organizations that are active in disaster and emergency response.  These national voluntary organizations are included at the National VOADs web site.  You can also call FEMA to volunteer at 1-800-440-6728.

In addition to the DHHS and FEMA volunteer information, another organization that the White House has established for volunteerism is the USA Freedom Corps.  More information on volunteering through this organization is included at the USA Freedom Corps web site.

Also, for donations of housing, transportation, medical equipment, supplies, and medications, the National Emergency Resource Registry (NERR) has been activated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).  For partners that are volunteering these types of resources, please encourage them to register with the NERR.  Visit the NERR web site.

We ask that you please forward this information to any of your colleagues who have expressed an interest in volunteering to support this herculean emergency response effort.  Again, thank you ever so much for your outstanding partnership at this time of need!

Charlotte Duggan
Director of Field Operations, Public Health Training Network
Division of Creative Services
National Center for Health Marketing
Coordinating Center for Health Information and Service
Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
1600 Clifton Road, N.E., MS G-21
Atlanta, GA 30333
404-639-0535
Fax 404-639-0497