HHS seeks volunteers for Katrina disaster relief
The agency has created a Web site for medical professionals and IT and communications personnel with experience in health care IT who want to volunteer for Hurricane Katrina disaster relief efforts.
The Department of Health and Human Services has established a Web site for medical professionals and information technology and communications personnel with experience in health care IT who want to volunteer for Hurricane Katrina disaster relief efforts.
Interested volunteers can contact HHS online at https://volunteer.ccrf.hhs.gov, or call (866) KAT-MEDI. The department said volunteers can expect to serve for at least 14 days and can be assigned to field locations in the disaster area or shelters nationwide where health services are being given to hurricane victims.
HHS has already received what officials called an amazing amount of volunteers, and will contact only the people it plans to deploy now.
We are working hard to deploy volunteers to the disaster area as fast as we can, and will notify potential volunteers as soon as possible," an agency spokesperson said.
Volunteers should be prepared for austere living conditions and a demanding workload, HHS said. They must be healthy enough to function in field conditions, be prepared to work 12-hour shifts and possibly sleep on bedrolls and eat military field rations.