Health & Social Services Recovery Support Function

The mission of the Health and Social Services (HSS) Recovery Support Function (RSF) within the National Disaster Recovery Framework is to assist local community-led recovery efforts to restore and improve public health, healthcare, and social service networks while promoting the resilience, physical and behavioral health, independence, and well-being of individuals and communities affected by disasters and health emergencies.

Specifically, the HHS RSF seeks to:

restore capacity and resilience of essential health and social services to meet ongoing and emerging post-disaster community needs
encourage behavioral health systems to meet behavioral needs of affected individuals, response and recovery workers, and the community
promote self-sufficiency and continuity of the health and well-being of affected individuals; particularly the needs of vulnerable populations such as children, seniors, people living with disabilities, people with functional needs, people from diverse backgrounds, people with limited English proficiency, and underserved populations
assist in the continuity of essential health and social services, including schools
reconnect displaced populations with essential health and social services
protect the health of the population, including response and recovery workers, from the long-term effects of a post-disaster environment
promote clear communications and public health messaging to provide accurate, appropriate, and accessible information; ensuring information is developed and disseminated in multiple mediums, multi-lingual formats, alternative formats, is age-appropriate and user-friendly, and is accessible to underserved populations.

Health and Social Services Recovery Core Mission Areas

The Health and Social Services Recovery Support Function (HSS RSF) has identified nine core mission areas vital to recovery for communities and citizens.

Public Health

Assess and monitor public health, disease surveillance, and injury prevention of the impacted community to identify and mitigate health problems
Develop and implement risk communications and public health messaging for disasters
Provide technical assistance (instructional staff, curriculum development experts, subject matter experts, professional staff) for site-specific hazard awareness related to recovery

Healthcare Service Impacts

Assess and monitor disaster-related impacts on health care facilities (hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, assisted living centers, blood banks, dialysis centers, substance abuse treatment facilities, poison control centers, medical and dental offices)
Prioritize needs, identify best practices, and provide technical assistance

Behavioral Health Impacts

Assess disaster-related structural, functional, and operational impacts to behavioral health facilities and programs
Assess needs, provide technical assistance, and identify best practices, including those for prevention
Connect practitioners with resources
Develop strategies, including population-based strategies, to address ongoing behavioral health assessment, surveillance, and long-term treatment needs
Develop and disseminate consistent messaging and guidance concerning stress management and mitigation strategies

Environmental Health Impacts

Assess the environment to determine if post-disaster conditions may cause adverse public health effects
Provide technical assistance (scientific data and models) and environmental health training

Food Safety and Regulated Medical Products

Monitor and assess food supply networks to ensure food safety
Provide technical assistance to FDA-regulated biologics, device, drug, animal feed, and human food establishments to protect public health

Long-term Health Issues Specific to Responders

Determine which groups of responders should be included in a health care or disease registry program to monitor long-term physical and behavioral health
Establish and implement long-term tracking of responder health

Social Services Impacts

Assess disaster-related structural, functional, and operational impacts to social services facilities (community congregate care, childcare provider facilities, Head Start centers, senior centers, homeless shelters) and programs (domestic violence services, child support enforcement, foster care, family support programs)
Assess and monitor disaster-related impacts to at-risk individuals (children, older adults, pregnant women, individuals experiencing homelessness, people living with disabilities and others who may have additional access and functional needs, people with pre-existing mental disorders, people with limited English proficiency, other underserved populations)
Identify disaster-related social services needs that cannot be met with community resources due to the disaster
Provide technical assistance in assessing the healthcare services needs of disaster-impacted individuals and the applicability of Federal programs’ flexibilities and waivers that may be strategically leveraged to enhance the state’s capacity to meet those needs

Referral to Social Services/Disaster Case Management

Implement coordinated system(s) for referral of individuals and families with unmet disaster-related needs to appropriate social services and strategically leverage Federal social services programs to mitigate social disruption and transition individuals and families back to self-sufficiency
Facilitate the delivery of federally supported Disaster Case Management, either through the FEMA DCM State Grant, ACF-led Immediate Disaster Case Management Program, or other applicable mechanisms

Children in Disasters

Support the restoration of the educational environment for students and staff
Coordinate health and social services delivered through state or tribal liaisons to support impacted schools
Support state, territorial, tribal, or local government efforts to coordinate enrollment, educational services, and health and social services for students who are homeless and/or displaced prior to, or as a result of, the disaster

Recovery During & After a Disaster

Initial Response to a Disaster

While the first responders are dealing with the immediate impact of the disaster or health emergency, HSS RSF activities include:

maintaining situational awareness to identify and mitigate potential recovery
leveraging response, emergency protection measures, and hazard mitigation resources to expedite recovery
planning for the transition from response to recovery into preparedness and operational plans, in close collaboration with Emergency Support Functions #3, #6, #8 and #11
incorporating planning for the transition from post-incident recovery operations back to a steady state into preparedness and operational plans
developing strategies to address recovery issues for health, behavioral health, and social services – particularly the needs of response and recovery workers, children, seniors, people living with disabilities, people with functional needs, people from diverse cultural origins, people with limited English proficiency, and underserved populations
incorporating the principles of sustainability, resilience, and mitigation into preparedness and operational plans

Post-Disaster

Once the first responders have dealt with the immediate impact of the disaster or health emergency, HSS RSF activities include:

providing technical assistance in the form of impact analyses and supporting recovery planning of public health, health care, and human services infrastructure
conducting HHS RSF assessments with primary agencies
identifying and coordinating HHS RSF-specific missions with primary agencies
coordinating the deployment of the primary and supporting departments and agencies in support of the HHS RSF mission, as appropriate (when activated by the FDRC)
establishing communication and information-sharing forum(s) for HHS RSF stakeholders with the state and community
coordinating and leveraging applicable Federal resources for health and social services
developing and implementing a plan to transition from Federal HHS recovery operations back to a steady state
identifying and coordinating with other local, state, tribal, territorial, and Federal partners to assess food, animal, air, and water conditions to ensure safety
evaluating the effectiveness of Federal HHS recovery effort

Partner Agencies and Organizations

A variety of partner agencies and organizations play different roles in the implementation of HSS RSF.

The Coordinating Agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, provides leadership, coordination, and oversight. The Coordinating Agency ensures ongoing communication and coordination between the primary agencies and support organizations and between the Federal agencies and corresponding local, state, tribal, territorial, insular area authorities, and nonprofit and private sector organizations.
A Primary Agency is a Federal agency with specific authorities, roles, resources, or capabilities necessary for accomplishing the mission.
Support Organizations are those entities with specific capabilities or resources that support the Coordinating and Primary Agencies.