Development of Mental Health Classification Related to Severe Weather Events

Real-time emergency department (ED) data are currently received from 78 of 80 New Jersey acute care and satellite EDs by Health Monitoring Systems Inc. (HMS) EpiCenter system. After the 2012 Superstorm Sandy, NJDOH initiated a plan to develop severe weather surveillance using ED data to track both health and mental health outcomes during adverse weather conditions to alert the public about emerging health hazards. Data from 68 out of a total of 80 emergency departments with dates from October 28, 2012 to November 17, 2012 were used in this analysis. Validation results for classifications were reviewed and issues are addressed