USPHS CRISIS RESPONSE

The Commissioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) has been deployed on numerous occasions since the USPHS was organized under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in 1980. But it was not until 2004 that the Office of the Surgeon General, who heads the Commissioned Corps, created the Office of Force Readiness and deployment to expedite the rapid activation, mobilization, and deployment of officers to disaster sites and other locations of public-health emergencies.

The Crisis Response Service Award (CRSA) was established to recognize participation by officers from the Commissioned Corps during a Corps deployment to a designated domestic response. USPHS deployment procedures have been shaped to a great extent by the events of September 11, 2001 and the response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, with the lessons learned during those disasters being used to formalize the deployment process so it can be implemented rapidly but judiciously.

Before Commissioned Corps officers can be deployed, the HHS Secretary must first authorize an activation, which is immediately followed by the Readiness and Deployment Operations Group’s (REDDOG) evaluation of requests for Corps members. These can come from a variety of governmental organizations at the State level, Federal, Tribal, or even International level; both REDDOG and the Emergency Management Group of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response analyze the mission parameters and assess the Corps’ capability in fulfilling mission goals and requirements. Ready rosters are then activated and other mission assets organized for deployment based on those assessments.

The Division of Commissioned Corps Personnel and Readiness defines an official Commissioned Corps deployment as a directed, temporary assignment of officers away from their assigned duties (these can be in HHS or non-HHS organizations) in response to a national public health emergency.

Besides taking part in an official deployment that has been determined by the Surgeon General to qualify for the CRSA, USPHS Commissioned Corps officers must be deployed for a minimum of seven days in the designated Public Health Service uniform (the latter can be exempted by Surgeon General).   

Corps officers receive only one CRS for their work in a crisis response regardless of the length of time was involved or even if they were assigned to a new location as part of the response efforts. Note that the CRSA is awarded for responses to domestic crises; deployments abroad are recognized with the Global Response Service Award.