SAN ANTONIO (AP) – The nation’s top health official on Monday declared a public health emergency in Texas, saying it would speed up federal assistance for the state as it contends with almost 240,000 evacuees created by Hurricane Katrina.Mike Leavitt, Health and Human Services secretary, made the announcement after he, Gov. Rick Perry and local leaders toured San Antonio’s emergency shelters on the former Kelly Air Force Base.
“It will allow us to move the red tape and any roadblock out of the way in order to serve people,” Leavitt said of the declaration.
Leavitt ticked off a long list of needs for those displaced when the violent storm struck a week ago – health care, housing assistance, child care, education and more.
He thanked Texas for quickly stepping up to help in Katrina’s aftermath.
“‘One nation under God’ – that phrase has new meaning to me,” said Leavitt, former Utah governor. “It is one great nation, and it is nowhere better exemplified than in the outpouring of care, love, compassion and capacity than what I’ve seen in the state of Texas.”
Leavitt said he will pass along his observations to President Bush at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday.
“He will, I am sure, have his heart warmed to know that his fellow citizens of Texas are doing as they always have,” Leavitt said.
The secretary also said that the state will not have to bear the financial burden of accepting the Katrina evacuees.
“This is a national emergency – Texas has responded,” he said. “The national government will step up in ways that I feel every confidence will make certain that your generosity is made whole.”
Perry directed Dr. Eduardo Sanchez, state health commission, to draw up a statewide plan that focused on the short-term and long-term health needs of evacuees while they remain in Texas.
“We will work to identify every need and meet every challenge,” Perry said.
A number of the top Health and Human Services officials were in Texas on Monday.
Dr. Mark McClellan, head of Medicare and Medicaid and an Austin native, was in Dallas, Leavitt said, and the secretary was traveling with Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control.
Gerberding said she’s been impressed by steps taken to control any disease outbreaks in the Texas shelters, including isolating sick evacuees.
“What we’ve seen in the centers that we’ve visited so far is the remarkable emphasis on preventing the spread of infections,” she said.
“But any time you have this kind of crowding and people under stress, we have to be concerned.”
Dr. Francisco Guerra, San Antonio’s health chief, said medical students have been going cot to cot with questionnaires to identify any public health risks.
Evacuees have also been given a variety of vaccinations – hepatitis A, tetanus and more – as a precaution, Guerra said.