Onora Lien, MA Health Systems Response Planner King County Healthcare Coalition

1. Supporting Psychosocial Response to Radiological Incidents : The Role of Family Assistance Centers Onora Lien, MA Health Systems Response Planner King County Healthcare Coalition Public Health – Seattle & King County

2. Overview Overview of Family Assistance Centers Planning recommendations Unique aspects of radiological incidents

3. Family Assistance is: Information and support (mental health, spiritual care, human needs, crime victims assistance) provided to families/loved ones/survivors of the injured and deceased Reunification of family members with their missing or deceased loved ones Family Assistance

4. Family Assistance Centers • Established during mass casualty or mass fatality incidents • A centralized location where loved ones will gather to gain information and assistance • Provides a safe and secure reception place for family and friends of victims • Could have more virtual/telephonic component • Helps facilitate coordinated information-sharing between families and officials/response agencies (e.g. ME/C, LE, ARC) • Best practice in an emergency/disaster response • Legislated in some incidents • Differs from Disaster Assistance/Disaster Services Centers

5. FAC Activities Information sharing on missing/deceased loved ones Coordination on missing persons, patient tracking, victim identifications, other reunification efforts Briefings related to response and recovery efforts Information on identification processes Collecting antemortem information to assist with identification Notifications (about location or confirmed death) Call center Mental health and spiritual care support Immediate human needs assistance First aid, food, shelter

6. FAC Activities • Coordinating family tour of incident site • After death support activities • Personal effects return, human remains release, death certificate or funeral support • Legal, financial, other social services

7. Supporting Behavioral Health • Those being served at FAC are population of concern for being at risk for developing psychiatric disorders or dysfunction post incident • Traumatic loss • Separation from loved one • Functions of FAC may serve to help mitigate some stressors post disaster • Provides forum for timely information sharing and meeting immediate needs • Helps to facilitate reunification with loved ones • Availability of mental health and spiritual care support • Important to incorporate robust triage and assessment capabilities as a part of FAC operations and strategically allocate available mental health and spiritual care resources

8. Initial Planning Considerations • Lead agency and response partners • Core functions for FAC • Protocol/process for coordinating missing/unaccounted for persons reports • Coordination with Law Enforcement • Coordination with hospitals/patient tracking • Coordination with ARC or other family reunification activities • Integration with behavioral health response activities • Triage, assessment, referral and ongoing support • Protocol for collecting antemortem information/conducting family interviews

9. It takes a team… Public Information Officers Office of Victims of Crime FEMA NDMS/DMORT Department of State NTSB Relevant private sector/corporate partners Potential Planning Partners: • Local Health Department • Social/Human Services • Mental Health • Coroner/Medical Examiner • Law Enforcement and/or FBI • Hospitals/Healthcare • Emergency Management • Chaplains/Spiritual Care providers • American Red Cross/Salvation Army/voluntary agencies • Social/Human Services • Interpreters/Translators

10. Challenges during Radiological Incidents • Nature of radiological incident heightens public concern and anxiety • May add to psychological stress • Information sharing challenges • Heightened media interest • Possible criminal nature of incident • Response, recovery and victim identification may be delayed • Need for coordination with evacuation, decontamination, screening activities • How do you coordinate or integrate Family Assistance Center operations with Community Reception Center activities?

11. Family Assistance During Disasters • Supporting victims’ families is a critical component of overall response • It is essential to facilitating overall community resilience and recovery • Flexibility and adaptability is key! “You can’t fix it, you can’t make it better, but you can provide one positive memory to carry with them out of this horrible experience.” – Kathryn Turman, Director of FBI Office of Victim Assistance