GREENFIELD — Just in time for hurricane and/or tornado season: The Franklin Regional Council of Governments has received a $1,008,970 federal grant to help establish the newly formed District 1 Health and Medical Coordinating Coalition (HMCC), Gov. Charlie Baker’s office announced.
There are six coalitions established throughout Massachusetts that were created to coordinate 24/7 “mutual aid” emergency responses by hospitals, long-term care facilities, emergency medical services and public health officials to a health epidemic, such as the spread of the Zika virus, natural disasters or man-made crisis. Altogether, the six coalitions are sharing roughly $7.6 million in federal grants.
FRCOG is the sponsoring organization for the District 1 coalition, which serves 94 towns in Franklin, Hampshire, Hampden and Berkshire counties.
“District 1 is the biggest HMCC in Massachusetts,” said Phoebe Walker, FRCOG’s director of Community Services. “We have been planning it for the last year. It just went live in March. The steering committee was elected in March and had its first meeting in April.”
“This grant will be the first official unveiling of this program,” she said.
She said the steering committee will factor in regional vulnerabilities in planning a regional emergency coordination plan. For instance, where are the dams, the flood plains, areas with poor phone service, or groups of non-English speaking residents, or people with health issues or special needs. One of the coalition’s goals is to create a work plan this summer.
The steering committee consists of 10 representatives from area hospitals, health centers, ambulance services, and senior care services. The goal is to connect the groups and not to override systems that are already in place. The coalition may also organize preparedness activities, develop regional coordination plans, and inventory health and medical mutual aid resources and available supplies in the region.
“These grants represent the basic tenets of state government, ensuring that regions across the state plan for emergencies and disasters, and share resources in a more efficient and integrated manner,” said Gov. Baker.
The June 1, 2011 tornado that touched down in the Springfield showed the need for planning and coordination between many health and service agencies. Eight communities were affected and at least 1,500 homes were damaged or destroyed. The storms injured 300 people in Springfield, and left hundreds of people homeless — including people with special needs who required help from several agencies.
A few months later, several Franklin County towns were devastated by flooding from Tropical Storm Irene, with some towns still making infrastructure repairs as a result of the damage.
The grant money was provided through the federal Hospital Preparedness Program and the Public Health Emergency Preparedness Program.