Veterans administration mental health services availability in hurricane effected locales, 2004-2005

Florida has one of the largest military veteran populations in the US. In response, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has established a large number of major care facilities, centers and outpatient clinics providing inpatient and outpatient services. Florida outpatient mental health services account for a large percentage of outpatient visits. During the 2004 and 2005 hurricanes seasons 5 hurricanes crossed and significantly impacted 13 Florida counties, disrupting the environment of over 650,000 VHA enrolled veterans residing in those counties. In order to understand the impact of these hurricanes on outpatient mental health services, it is first necessary to understand the location and capabilities of the existing VA mental health facilities. At the time of this study 1.69 million veterans resided in Florida, 40% (672,000) in hurricane affected counties. These veterans were older (12k < 45; 259k 45-64 years; 288k 65+ years) and 10% met VHA eligibility priority 3 or higher. Within the 13 counties there were 22 VHA facilities that provided outpatient mental health services. These facilities were built to varying hurricane standards and provided a myriad of outpatient mental health services including essential mental health services to the veteran population when the 2004 hurricane season began. In the future, a growing number of VHA mental health facilities will continue to be located in hurricane prone areas in order to serve the aging veteran population. Site locations and construction of these facilities should emphasize survivability, operational readiness and accessibility after future hurricanes in order to serve this vulnerable veteran population.