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Families to Relocate to Erie County, Health Commissioner Says More Funding Needed

By Mark Wozniak and Joyce Kryszak

Buffalo, NY – As many as 150 people forced from their homes by Hurricane Katrina may be relocating to Buffalo, at least temporarily.

County Executive Joel Giambra announced Monday that state emergency management officials have asked the county to be ready to help as early as this week. County officials were scheduled to meet with local faith-based leaders Tuesday to discuss plans.

Some 100 evacuees will be helped thanks to True Bethel Baptist Church in Buffalo, which raised more than $10,000 during Sunday services. Reverend Darius Pridgen said he spoke of the dire conditions in the Gulf Coast, and the congregation made their donations without a specific request for money.

Erie County health department officials say that Hurricane Katrina brings home the message that communities need to be prepared. Health Commissioner Anthony Billittier says that's just one of the reasons he's asking for more funding in the 2006 budget.

Criticism of the government's reaction to Katrina has been free-flowing since the hurricane hit. But emergency crews are now mobilizing and are being sent from all over the country. Billitier says the federally run national response could also call on Erie County to send help. If that happens, Billitier says it's hard to say who would pay for it.

"Very often then FEMA will pay for costs, in retrospect, but payment is a real issue in mutual aid types of situations and needs to be dealt with," said Billittier. "Unfortunately, it's often dealt with after the fact where you submit an itemized list of what resources you've used, whether it be supplies or peoples' time."

Billittier says that would be a problem for the cash-strapped health department. But Billitier says that's not the main reason he's asking that the county restore much of the department's funding. He says the budget crisis left the health department without enough money to even meet all its state mandates.

"For example, at some of the smaller food festivals over the summer, we didn't have the staff to inspect them the way we did in the past," said Billittier. "So, is there a higher potential for food-born outbreak? Quite possibly."

But he says the most eminent threat is that the health department could lose additional state and grant funding. He says millions of dollars of aid is contingent upon continuation of many public health programs.

Billitier says he's seeking restorations primarily to his environmental staff. He says people who deal with epidemiology and disease control are going to be needed more than ever with emerging disease outbreaks. And he says there are many new ones which we could see in the wake of Katrina.