Tennessee Medical Teams Deploy to Florida for Hurricane Irma Response

CHATTANOOGA – Multiple teams of Tennessee health care professionals will begin deploying from Chattanooga on Friday, September 8 and travel to Florida to work with local, state and federal officials in response to Hurricane Irma. The first of five ambulance strike teams, with 57 total members, will depart from the Volunteer Air National Guard Armory in Chattanooga at noon Eastern Time today. Nurse strike teams will deploy to Florida on Saturday.

The ambulance and nurse strike teams and incident management teams include Tennessee Department of Health employees and representatives from more than 20 other city and county agencies and hospitals from across the state. These teams include paramedics, advanced emergency medical technicians and public health professionals.

The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency is coordinating the deployment. All teams will base their operations out of Tallahassee, Fla. for an eight- to 14-day deployment. 

 

What:                   Deployment of Tennessee health care teams to Florida for rescue and emergency response operations

 

When:                  Friday, Sept. 8, noon EDT

 

Where:                Volunteer Air National Guard Armory

                               6447 Bonny Oaks Drive

                               Chattanooga, TN 37416

 

MEDIA NOTE:  Members of the media are asked to arrive by 11 a.m. for availability with departing team members and footage of loading and departure. Identification must be presented for entrance to the base.

MEDIA CONTACTS:  Amanda Goodhard, 423-362-3398 or ​Amanda.Goodhard@tn.gov, or Shelley Walker, 615-253-5184 or Shelley.Walker@tn.gov