From January 2002 NASW NEWS
Copyright ©2002, National Association of Social Workers, Inc.

Texas Chapter Has Role in Bioterrorism Response

Sole Mental Health Delegate

The appointment helps institutionalize mental health as part of disaster planning.

The NASW Texas Chapter will be one of only 10 organizations — and the sole representative of mental health interests — to sit on a coordination group to implement the recommendations of the Governor's Task Force on Homeland Security's Work Group on Health and Bioterrorism.

Vicki Hansen, chapter executive director, said that the appointment was the result of a chance encounter with Texas's new commissioner of health, Eduardo Sanchez. "When I suggested that NASW sit on the coordination group, his eyes got big. He said, 'I can't believe my wife is a social worker and I didn't think of that,'" Hansen recalled.

She added that the chapter has been working hard to reconnect with public-sector social work in the state. "An investment in time and energy with the Texas Department of Health over the past two years has paid off handsomely."

She said that one of the reasons the appointment is a coup is because it "positions us to get mental health institutionalized as part of disaster planning and prevention."

The goals of the coordination group are to foster partnership between public and private health sectors and develop a plan for streamlining responses to bioterrorism that avoids duplication of efforts.

The recommendations state that "prevention, early detection, crisis management and management of consequences of bioterrorism are integral parts of bioterrorism preparedness plans."

Among other organizations represented on the coordination group are the Texas Medical Association, Texas Nurses' Association, Houston Medical Strike Team and Texas A&M University.

"We face a number of public health challenges and issues in Texas, but today it's difficult to identify any priorities higher than bioterrorism preparedness," Sanchez said.

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