ABSTRACT
CONTENTS First Responders and Workforce Protection ............................................ 472
Mental Health Care for First Responders....................................... 472 Consideration for the Mental Health Care of Volunteers............... 474 Consideration for the Mental Health Care of Survivors ................. 475
Conclusion.............................................................................................. 476
The author has been involved in disaster mental health on several levels. On the local community level, she has served as a first responder, planner, and consultant to the public health department as well as on a community-based team, Mental Health Responders to Critical Incidents (MHRCI). On the state level, she has been involved in disaster response planning for mental health/substance abuse services for the state of Colorado and a member of the Colorado Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) with a position on the team as mental health/psychological intervention and public information officer (PIO). On the national level, she is an active member of the National Medical Response Team (NMRT) that responds to weapons of mass destruction as a decontamination unit, and other ‘‘all hazards’’
responses. The Colorado DMAT and NMRT teams are both divisions of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Homeland Security. In addition, she was deployed to the state of Florida for hurricane recovery efforts from four storms that produced massive damage and three deployments to Hurricane Katrina.
