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FEMA continues its American Samoa support — expanding to Ta’u

Allison Pfaendler
A reminder: The FEMA funeral assistance program is still available
fili@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — During Monday’s COVID-19 Task Force virtual news conference, Allison Pfaendler, who is the lead of the U.S Federal Emergency Management Agency Incident Management Assistance Team (IMAT), said that this past Thursday marked two months since the federal team arrived in the territory supporting ASG in the COVID-19 community spread response.

“I thank the American Samoa people and the American Samoa Government for welcoming us,” she said and pointed out that last week Thursday, 31 members of the federal team — who had been on island for more than 30-days — left the territory on the Hawaiian Airlines flight.

And on that same incoming flight “we welcome the new federal medical team” comprising 18-staff members — including registered nurses, LPNs, paramedics and pharmacy technicians, she said.

“These FEMA contractors will continue the response mission along side to support” the Health Department with three fixed vaccine sites, numerous pop-up sites and three test-to-treat sites, said Pfaendler, who was among the first federal members to arrive in the federal government’s support and response team to the COVID-19 community surge, which began on Feb. 21.

Pfaendler also gave an update on the various work and support provided by the federal partners to ASG, such as the U.S Department of Health and Human Service (DHSS) and FEMA assisting DoH in developing the Manu’a response plan, which was implemented at DoH clinics Ta’u and Ofu as the community spread of COVID began on Ta’u late last month.

“It was great to witness that plan in action when it was fully implemented and worked great in Manu’a,” she said, adding that the federal team is also providing training for DoH staff there.

“In the COVID hospitalization surge mission, virtual epidemiological support continues” as U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Epidemiologist Dr. Thane Hancock completed the territorial mortality analysis with LBJ Medical Center and Dr. Hancock continues to provide support to vaccination tracking, said Pfaendler.

And she reminded the public of the FEMA funeral assistance program, for families who have lost loved ones due to COVID-19. She also said that they’ve seen ASG’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) supporting those looking to apply for the program and EOC is prepared to assist families who required Samoan translation and help uploading required documents.

Call the FEMA Help Line - 844-684-6333 with hours of operation from 2am. to 2p.m local Samoa Standard time. Additional information about COVID-19 funeral assistance, including frequently asked questions, is available at FEMA.gov.

“As always we urge you all to continue to get vaccinated, continue to seek therapeutic treatment if needed. I see that American Samoa is slowly coming out of the woods from the first surge but we must remain diligent in wearing our masks, social distancing and getting vaccinated to assist us in a future surge which is potentially going to happen at any point,” she said and thanked the community for the continued support.