[§321-23]  Catastrophic and traumaticemergency response program established.  (a)  The director shall establishwithin the department a catastrophic and traumatic emergency response programto:

(1)  Provide for the delivery of prompt psychologicalservices in the event of a catastrophic event or traumatic emergency;

(2)  Provide for critical incident stress debriefingfor ambulance, fire, police, and other emergency service personnel;

(3)  Provide for immediate delivery of psychologicalservices to the residents and visitors;

(4)  Coordinate the use of other public and privateresources of post-disaster psychological services for the immediate andlong-term delivery of psychological assistance to trauma victims; and

(5)  Advise state government and emergency servicepersonnel on psychological issues and trauma victim behavior in the planning ofand responses to catastrophic events and traumatic emergencies.

(b)  The director shall compile a list ofqualified mental health professionals who are willing to serve on acatastrophic and traumatic emergency response team, giving priority toindividuals with experience in dealing with catastrophic or traumatic emergencyevents.  The director shall appoint at least one team of professionals from thelist, making a reasonable effort to appoint at least one member from eachisland, except Niihau.  If a qualified representative cannot be appointed fromeach island, the director, at a minimum, shall appoint one member from eachcounty.  Each team appointed shall serve for a period of four years, with onemember who has specialized training in trauma care to be designated as the teamleader; provided that the director shall have the flexibility of appointingadditional special teams for shorter or longer periods of time as the needarises.  Members of a catastrophic and traumatic emergency response team shallreceive continuing professional education and training on the provision ofpsychological assistance to be ready to provide services whenever acatastrophic event or traumatic emergency occurs.  The team members shall becompensated for each day of service provided under this section, includingparticipation in training required by the director, in accordance with a feeschedule to be established by the director pursuant to chapter 91.

(c)  For purposes of this section,"catastrophic event or traumatic emergency" means any tragicoccurrence that has resulted in:

(1)  The loss of lives, infliction of injury, harm orsuffering among humans, including hostage situations; or

(2)  Extensive destruction of property.

The term includes, but shall not be limited to,disasters for which relief is provided under chapter 127.

(d)  The team shall be activated by thedirector whenever the director finds that psychological assistance isappropriate following a catastrophic event or traumatic emergency.

(e)  The director shall adopt rules underchapter 91 to implement the emergency response trauma program, which shallinclude the qualifications of and appointment process for catastrophic andtraumatic emergency response team members. [L 1990, c 239, §3]