Randy Oliver, 502/564-4448

Lisa Rice, 502/564-4448

In addition, the Division of Mental Health will receive about $439,000 to support this effort from the Kentucky Department of Public Health, out of approximately $22 million in grant funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Health Resources and Services Administration. This new infusion of funding works as a collaborative initiative between the Departments for Public Health and Mental Health and Mental Retardation Services to bring mental health and substance abuse professionals to the table when community health professionals plan and prepare for how to respond to acts of terrorism and disasters.

The funding from the Department for Public Health comes from two grants aimed at promoting public health and hospital preparedness and increasing response capability to bioterrorism, infectious disease outbreaks and other public health emergencies. The CDC and HRSA grants are intended to better prepare and equip emergency responders such as public health professionals, hospitals, emergency medical technicians, physical and behavioral health care providers, law enforcement, and fire departments to deal with acts of bioterrorism and other disasters, whether they are natural or man-made. The Department for Public Health recognizes the importance of behavioral health issues to the response and recovery of a community in crisis and, therefore, is using a portion of these funds to increase the behavioral health response capacity across the state. 

Funds are being provided directly to each of the 14 Regional Boards to support grant implementation.  Primary goals of the grants are to:

• Enhance the emergency preparedness and response capacity on the part of each Board;
• Coordinate the activities of each Board with those of other emergency response entities; and
• Recruit and train Board staff to serve as emergency responders in conjunction with the Kentucky Community Crisis Response Board.

Randy Oliver, assistant director of the state’s Division of Mental Health, is responsible for grant implementation with the Regional Boards.  “These grants help to address a critical need.  The events of the Oklahoma City bombing and the September 11 attacks clearly demonstrated that the mental health and substance abuse treatment needs of individuals impacted by disaster can severely stress the capacity of the emergency response network,” says Oliver.

  The disaster-related statistics are significant.  For example, the U.S. Center for Mental Health Services estimated that 1.5 million people in the New York City area alone were in need of counseling for terror-related complaints following the September 11 attack.  Approximately 50 percent of the residents of Oklahoma City directly exposed to the bombing encountered problems with anxiety, depression and alcohol and 33 percent experienced post traumatic stress disorder.

“As compelling as these statistics are, they only tell part of the story,” said Oliver.  Research has shown a mental health and substance abuse ‘ripple effect’ associated with disasters.  For instance, following a disaster, the increased demand for mental health and substance abuse treatment services is not confined to just the area directly impacted by the disaster and the effects of disaster are not limited to just the victims.  Emergency responders who deal with disasters tend to experience increased rates for divorce, suicide, domestic violence, stress- and physical injury-related leave, early retirement, and the need for counseling services.

“Even in the best of times, Kentucky’s Regional Boards serve as the ‘safety net’ for the provision of mental health, mental retardation and substance abuse services throughout Kentucky.  When disasters occur, Regional Boards and their staff have traditionally been called upon to play a vital role as emergency responders,” according to Oliver.  “Through implementation of these grants, we intend to further strengthen their emergency preparedness and response capacity.”

For further information concerning national and state emergency preparedness and response capacity enhancement activities, visit http://mhmr.chs.ky.gov and click on “Trauma and Terrorism Resource” to access the Department for Mental Health and Mental Retardation Services’ Website.  Also visit http://chs.ky.gov/publichealth/BIOTERRORISM.htm to access the Department for Public Health’s Bioterrorism Website, and www.bt.cdc.gov to access the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Bioterrorism Website.

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