Medtech Responds for Katrina Relief

Katrina relief: Medtech heeds the call. Photo courtesy American Red Cross.

In the days and weeks following Hurricane Katrina’s rampage across the Gulf Coast, the medtech industry mobilized to supply the affected regions with much-needed supplies, ranging from bedpans and bandages to home dialysis equipment and automated external defibrillators.

But despite widespread efforts and sizable donations on the part of many manufacturers, no single coordinating force emerged to link available medical supplies and services to areas of specific need. Medtech manufacturers eager to help pursued a variety of means, including coordinating with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and other government agencies, working through industry associations to identify areas of need and courses of action, contacting affected patients directly, and contributing donations and information through a variety of nonprofit entities.

Following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, HHS tapped industry association AdvaMed (Washington, DC) as its official liaison to the medical technology industry in the event of a natural disaster or terrorist incident. In Katrina’s wake, the department provided AdvaMed with a list of medical supplies needed to furnish facilities accommodating 10,000 emergency hospital beds.

“We matched the list to our member companies and began contacting them,” says Mark Brager, communications director at AdvaMed. The association provided manufacturers with contact information for HHS, which then coordinated with manufacturers on transporting the needed supplies to the Gulf area.

At last count, AdvaMed’s records showed that medical technology companies had contributed almost $27 million in cash donations and supplies to hurricane relief efforts, although Brager says that figure represents only the donations that companies have reported to AdvaMed. Of that total, supplies represent about $7.8 million, and Brager says it is unclear how much of that was coordinated through HHS based on its needed-supplies list and how much was contributed by companies through other channels.

Brager says that AdvaMed expects to be contacted again by HHS with additional supply needs as the relief work progresses and needs shift from those of emergency response to longer-term care for hurricane victims.

Following Katrina, the Medical Device Manufacturers Association (MDMA; Washington, DC) also heard from many of its member companies that wanted to know how best to proceed with contributions.

“We got a lot of feedback very quickly from members that were eager to help,” says Chris Delporte, director of member relations and communications at MDMA. “We reached out to HHS, and they put us into their repository of information.”

Delporte says MDMA worked as a go-between, putting its members in touch with the appropriate government agencies based on the type of products they produce. Among items contributed by MDMA members were basic needs, such as bandages, as well as more high-end supplies, including x-ray equipment and pulse oximeters.

Although MDMA was in direct contact with HHS and other government agencies, Delporte says no formal list of needed supplies was given to the organization. “I think ultimately we were able to get the supplies to the folks who needed them most,” he says. “All our member companies and medtech as a whole were very quick to respond.”

Supply demand: Bandages and beyond. Photo courtesy American Red Cross.

Another entity that responded on behalf of the medical products industry was ECRI (Plymouth Meeting, PA), a nonprofit research agency that maintains an online database of medical device manufacturers, service companies, and distributors. Following Katrina, the organization launched an online clearinghouse where healthcare facilities in the affected region could go to access information about what supplies and services were available through manufacturers and other companies.

ECRI sent e-mail blasts to more than 8000 North American medical device manufacturers, service companies, and distributors asking them to submit information on all products and services being offered to help with disaster relief. James Keller, ECRI’s vice president for health technology evaluation and safety, says the response has been strong. The site now includes information about available dialysis products, infusion pumps, portable ventilators, patient warmers, mobile hospitals and outdoor shelters, medical device batteries, clinical engineering repair services, and other healthcare products and services.

Keller says that because no identification or password is required to access the clearinghouse, located on ECRI’s site at www.ecri.org, it’s difficult to tell how many healthcare facilities in the disaster area have accessed it. The site has seen a few thousand hits, he says, and ECRI is still working to spread the word about its availability to manufacturers and healthcare providers alike. One difficulty, he says, is that many of the hospitals in the hardest-hit areas might not have Internet access restored yet.

This is the first time ECRI has developed such a clearinghouse in the wake of a disaster, but Keller says this will not be a fleeting feature on the organization’s site. “We’re definitely talking now about how we’ll be maintaining this over time,” he says. “I don’t expect ‘Katrina Information Clearinghouse’ will be the long-term name for that site. We will maintain this capability for future disasters and places we determine there is a need.” The Katrina information will be up at least through the end of 2005, and Keller says it will likely be up for a significant portion of 2006, as relief efforts are expected to continue for some time.

In an effort to spread the word about the clearinghouse, Keller says, ECRI has been in touch with HHS, FDA, and other government agencies, as well as nonprofit hospital organizations and medtech industry groups, including AdvaMed. MDMA’s Delporte says his organization was not contacted directly by ECRI, but that the association has been making efforts to ensure its members know about the clearinghouse.

Overall, Hurricane Katrina represents the most significant call to action for the domestic medtech industry since September 11—and the first chance for organizations to assess how well newly developed disaster response plans were put into effect. And although the general consensus is that medtech reacted to Katrina with overwhelming generosity, groups will now begin to assess what could be done better the next time the call to action goes out.

“I think we’ll definitely be looking at that,” Brager says. “As the process with Katrina went along, we saw that there could be ways to streamline the response. Just like on every level, our little part wasn’t perfect, and we’ll be looking at what else can be done.”

On the level of individual manufacturers, companies took a variety of approaches to providing aid. Following are a few examples of the medtech industry’s relief efforts.

Abbott (Abbott Park, IL) provided three 80-foot-long labs on wheels, featuring advanced diagnostic equipment, to healthcare staff working at mobile hospitals in Houston, New Orleans, and Davis, OK. The company also shipped an initial $4.5 million in nutritional, medical, and pharmaceutical products to the areas, and contributed $2 million in cash donations to key relief organizations.

Baxter Healthcare Corp. (Deerfield, IL) provided more than $500,000 worth of products and nearly $1.5 million in donations, including employee contributions, to aid victims of Katrina. Product donations included more than 120,000 containers of intravenous (IV) solutions and 60,000 IV administration sets, as well as nearly 5000 units of anesthesia and critical care pharmaceuticals and 6000 units of saline solution. Baxter continues to work with the American Red Cross, AmeriCares, and others to coordinate additional shipments of products. In addition, the company is working to establish contact with approximately 300 in-home peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients in affected areas. Due to its infrastructure of PD products and services, Baxter provided uninterrupted therapy for many home patients displaced by the hurricane by setting up emergency shipments of supplies to alternate delivery locations for such patients. At last count, the company had reached more than 75% of its renal home patients.

Cardinal Health (Dublin, OH) has been working with military, federal relief, and local relief agencies to provide emergency supplies and pharmaceuticals. It has responded to several requests for emergency IV tubing and has also shipped more than 100 infusion devices on an emergency basis to Southern hospitals. The company worked with HHS to equip emergency medical facilities throughout the affected region. In less than 24 hours, the company provided 400,000 needles and syringes to the Veterans’ Administration for vaccines being administered at a medical site in Baton Rouge. At the most recent count, total cash and product contributions had reached more than $1.7 million.

Siemens Medical Solutions USA (Malvern, PA) deployed critical infrastructure equipment, including power generators and telecommunications equipment, to hospitals, emergency centers, and key hubs. The company also planned to send water treatment equipment to the Gulf area and heart monitors and imaging equipment to Houston-area hospitals. In addition, the company initiated a 100% matching donation program for its U.S. employees. Donations are being made to the American Red Cross.

Canon Communications LLC

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