HHS Emergency Response in Haiti: Summary Report, Feb. 9

The HHS medical teams have reported seeing more than 27,900 patients so far, including approximately 600 yesterday, Feb. 8.
Since they began seeing patients Jan 17, HHS medical teams have performed 122 surgeries and delivered 31 babies.
HHS currently has approximately 195 people deployed in Haiti to support relief efforts.
- The International Medical Surgical Response Team continues to provide patient care using temporary medical stations set up in a soccer field near a GHESKIO clinic in Port-au-Prince.
- Disaster Medical Assistance Team members are providing primary care at the U.S. embassy and medical support for the recovery team at Hotel Montana.
- The teams report seeing patients with chronic disease or who need basic care, an indication that the medical need is returning to routine care rather than emergency care.
The U.S. government is working to recover, identify and repatriate the remains of U.S. citizens who perished in the earthquake.
- A specially trained HHS Family Assistance Center (FAC) Team is working with the U.S. Dept of State and families of U.S. citizens to gather information that will help identify the remains of Americans who died in the earthquake so they can be returned to their families.
- HHS has provided a disaster portable morgue unit at the Port-au-Prince airport, staffed with mortuary and forensic specialists who will work with the U.S. Dept. of State and U.S. Dept. of Defense to identify remains of U.S. citizens who died in the earthquake.
CDC is collaborating with national and international partners to meet urgent public health needs and establishing liaisons and coordination needed for successful, long range public health programs in response to the earthquake.
- CDC staff members in Haiti are helping the government of Haiti address urgent public health threats. CDC experts participated on Initial Rapid Assessment (IRA) teams to collect health, food, water, nutrition and sanitation data from 224 sites across Haiti. CDC staff in Haiti and Atlanta are assisting with data analysis from the IRAs. These data will be released by the U.N. and used to develop and prioritize immediate interventions.
- CDC is collaborating with international partners to conduct needs assessments as the basis for the development of long range public health programs in Haiti. CDC staff members have assisted with pilot surveillance of health conditions being diagnosed and treated in 52 health facilities in Haiti. Data on communicable diseases has been collected from about 50 percent of the 52 sites thus far and changes daily. Working with Haitian health officials and international partners, CDC staff are analyzing initial data submissions. Results of the surveillance will be used to prioritize public health interventions, project resources needed by health care facilities as they care for patients, and assist in long-range planning for the reconstruction of the country's health care system.
HHS has activated two Federal Coordinating Centers (FCCs) in Atlanta and Tampa as part of the National Disaster Medical System. These two centers are staffed by teams from the Department of Veterans Affairs who will meet NDMS medical evacuation flights from Haiti and arrange ground transport to place patients at appropriate hospitals. Federal Coordinating Centers in New York, NY; Lyons, NJ; Philadelphia, PA; Washington, DC; and Boston, MA are put on alert in case additional capacity is needed to treat patients from Haiti who have life-threatening conditions. Additional information can be found by visiting our Web site.
Approximately 23,648 American citizens have returned to the U.S. from Haiti as of midnight February 9. Of these, approximately 7,337 received Administration for Children and Families (ACF)-funded services assistance, such as medical attention, food, short-term lodging, transportation or logistics for their onward flights in the United States. These services were coordinated by the state emergency repatriation team.
Unaccompanied children coming from Haiti who have been matched with an adoptive family but who do not yet have legal guardians are placed in the custody of the Federal government, and are the responsibility of the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). As of Feb. 9 at 9:00 a.m., approximately 364 unaccompanied Haitian children have been put under the care of ORR. Of these, 344 were released to sponsors and 20 unaccompanied Haitian children are being cared for at ORR-designated facilities.* Sponsors are typically prospective adoptive parents who had already begun the process to adopt the child.

*The total number of unaccompanied Haitian children referred by DHS to ORR only reflects those children released into ORR's care. Totals reported before Feb. 8 included some unaccompanied Haitian children who were immediately released into the care of their adoptive parents upon entering the U.S.