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Hurricane Katrina
Recovery
For DMHAS/DCF Behavioral Health
Disaster Response Team Members Only
Please respond to CTRP
(by email) by Friday, September 09 before 12:00 P.M.
THIS IS Not A DRILL
DMHAS and DCF (with the assistance of CTRP) are
continuing to work out how our behavioral health crisis response team
members might be of assistance in the recovery efforts that are underway
for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. In order to move forward with our
planning, it is important that we determine how many of our Behavioral
Health Disaster Team members might be available for deployment.
IF you are interested in a possible deployment, please
consider the following:
>> You must be able to commit to an assignment
of at least two weeks duration.
>> The assignment may involve HARDSHIP
CONDITIONS, such as extreme heat without air conditioning, eating “Meals
Ready to Eat” (MREs), sleeping on a floor mat or cot in a staff
shelter, using a portable toilet, etc.
>> Your deployment would be completely
voluntary. You are not obligated to make a final commitment until you
have the details that you need to make your decision.
>>If you wish to volunteer, you should take the
following steps:
1. Please speak with your
supervisor/employer indicating your interest in deployment to provide
mental health crisis response services.
2. Clarify your options with
your employer regarding leave, compensation, etc. NOTE to State
Employees: CGS Sec. 5-249 (b) provides a mechanism for state
employees to be assist with disaster relief work through the American
Red Cross. The statute provides that any state employee who is a
certified disaster service volunteer of the American Red Cross (ARC) may
be granted a leave, not to exceed fourteen days in each year to
participate in specialized disaster relief services for the ARC. Staff
must demonstrate that American Red Cross has requested their
participation and they must have their supervisor’s approval. The
leave, if granted, would occur without loss of pay, vacation time, sick
leave or earned overtime accumulation.
3. Respond to CTRP (by email)
by Friday, September 09 before 12:00 p.m. indicating whether you would
be available for deployment.
We will continue to keep you informed in the coming
days of our response planning. Thank you for your consideration of this
matter. For further information regarding Hurricane Katrina recovery
efforts already underway and resource materials related to these
recovery efforts and behavioral health, please visit www.ctrp.org.
_________________________
In
the event of a major disaster or related critical incident, team members
are advised to check here for alerts and team activation
information/deployment instructions related to the crisis response
network.
Team
members should check this section of the web site before calling to obtain
team activation information. This
will help ensure that team leaders will be able to make outgoing calls
without unnecessary delay.
This
page will be used only for the purpose as described above and for no
other purpose.
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