(a) The director shall establish within the department a catastrophic and traumatic emergency response program to:

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Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 321-23

(1) Provide for the delivery of prompt psychological services in the event of a catastrophic event or traumatic emergency;
(2) Provide for critical incident stress debriefing for ambulance, fire, police, and other emergency service personnel;
(3) Provide for immediate delivery of psychological services to the residents and visitors;
(4) Coordinate the use of other public and private resources of post-disaster psychological services for the immediate and long-term delivery of psychological assistance to trauma victims; and
(5) Advise state government and emergency service personnel on psychological issues and trauma victim behavior in the planning of and responses to catastrophic events and traumatic emergencies.
(b) The director shall compile a list of qualified mental health professionals who are willing to serve on a catastrophic and traumatic emergency response team, giving priority to individuals with experience in dealing with catastrophic or traumatic emergency events. The director shall appoint at least one team of professionals from the list, making a reasonable effort to appoint at least one member from each island, except Niihau. If a qualified representative cannot be appointed from each island, the director, at a minimum, shall appoint one member from each county. Each team appointed shall serve for a period of four years, with one member who has specialized training in trauma care to be designated as the team leader; provided that the director shall have the flexibility of appointing additional special teams for shorter or longer periods of time as the need arises. Members of a catastrophic and traumatic emergency response team shall receive continuing professional education and training on the provision of psychological assistance to be ready to provide services whenever a catastrophic event or traumatic emergency occurs. The team members shall be compensated for each day of service provided under this section, including participation in training required by the director, in accordance with a fee schedule to be established by the director pursuant to chapter 91.
(c) For purposes of this section, “catastrophic event or traumatic emergency” means any tragic occurrence that has resulted in:

(1) The loss of lives, infliction of injury, harm or suffering 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 the director whenever the director finds that psychological assistance is appropriate following a catastrophic event or traumatic emergency.
(e) The director shall adopt rules under chapter 91 to implement the emergency response trauma program, which shall include the qualifications of and appointment process for catastrophic and traumatic emergency response team members.

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