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The Emergency System for Advance Registration of Volunteer Health Professionals

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Support in Aftermath of Kansas Tornado

​While physical health can often be the focus of emergency and disaster response, ESAR-VHP also recognizes and supports the critical role that mental health care plays in relief efforts. Kansas’s ESAR-VHP program, K-Serv, saw that to be especially true as they fielded volunteer requests following a tornado in Reading.

Mental health professionals were in high demand in Reading one week after the tornado devastated the community. Utilizing the ESAR-VHP system, K-Serv was able to quickly reach out to behavioral health directors, mental health counselors, marriage/family therapists and clinical social workers.

Shortly after the alert went out, 14 mental health professionals raised their hand to rotate shifts over Memorial Day weekend. Volunteers were placed at medical shelters where they provided much needed care and emotional support to those hit hardest by the tornado.

Communities need both physical and mental support in the wake of a disaster, and ESAR-VHP was able to quickly and effectively provide Reading residents with both.

To volunteer with ESAR-VHP in your state follow the three steps to register.