"The National Demonstration Project: The Use of Tele-Psychiatry in Mass Emergency Shelters," was a vision come true to help enable those in every community across the country, like Ashland County, Ohio, to meet the needs of those with access and functional needs in times of disaster. It is the obligation of local public health not only have plans to help those persons with access and functional needs in times of disaster, but also maintain working relationships with agencies and organizations that help to meet these needs on a daily basis, and then exercise these plans. The vision for this project began in September 2012 when Medical Reserve Corps Unit 1181 and the Red Cross participated in a seminar with Cuyahoga, Ashtabula and Medina Counties. At that time, it was realized that those with psychiatric needs in a mass emergency shelter in a county our size may have to be transported to a hospital and wait up to 48 hours to get the help they need. Near that same time, the U.S. Census Bureau released a report that nearly 1 in 5 people have a disability, approximately 56.7 million people, about 19 percent of the population, with more than half reporting the disability was severe. Late in 2012, Hurricane Sandy affected 24 states, and served as an additional motivation to MRC Unit 1181 to apply for a small grant that would demonstrate improvement in the delivery of medical services to those persons unable to be reached in ways we have become accustomed. It was not until December 2013, that MRC Unit 1181 was awarded a Challenge Grant from the National Association of County and City Health Officials to specifically demonstrate how public health could help those with access and functional needs in a disaster in a county our size. Part of that small grant was assigned to this project. Many thanks to the many agencies and organizations that helped to bring this demonstration project to fruition, among those being the members of Medical Reserve Corps Unit 1181, the Ashland County Mental Health and Recovery Board, the Ashland County Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management Agency, CIT International, the Division of the Civilian Volunteer Medical Reserve Corps, Office of Emergency Management, Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, InTouch Technologies, Inc., iQ Solutions Group, LLC, My Psychiatric Partner, LLC, the National Association of County and City Health Officials, and the Psychiatric Team of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. The music that accompanies the photographs comes from the Wadsworth High School Symphonic Band, Wadsworth, Ohio, U.S.A., in performance 24 May 2015, at Commencement.

• published: 26 Jul 2015
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