Picture a Veteran you know. They’ve ridden out storms before, but maybe they’re a retiree living alone in a Gulf Coast apartment, or a disabled Veteran in the Carolinas depending on powered medical equipment. Trained for hard situations and accustomed to pushing through, they believe they are ready.
Then a Category 2 storm knocks out the power for nine days. By day four, a critical medication runs out. The pharmacy is closed. Roads are flooded. The phone battery is dead.
It happens every season… not to a headline, but to real people in real homes across the Gulf Coast, the Carolinas and the mid-Atlantic. The gap between feeling prepared and being prepared is where emergencies become crises.
“It only takes one,” said Assistant Secretary Reginald Neal, leading VA’s Office of Operations, Security, and Preparedness (OSP). “One storm. One week without power. One heat wave. That’s all it takes.”
The mission doesn’t stop
When disaster strikes, VA doesn’t stand down—it expands.
VA has a “Fourth Mission,” authorizing support, not just for enrolled Veterans, but entire communities when local medical systems buckle under a storm’s weight. OSP and the Veterans Health Administration’s Office of Emergency Management work year-round to track threats, protect VA facilities and pre-position staff and supplies where they’re most needed.
In practice, that means VA can perform outreach, surge mobile medical units into storm-damaged communities, transfer patients from threatened hospitals before landfall, and keep Veterans connected to care through telehealth when roads are impassable and clinics are dark. VA coordinates directly with FEMA and the Department of Health and Human Services, state emergency managers and local agencies, so that when a storm makes landfall, the response is already moving.
But even the most capable emergency system has limits. It cannot help a Veteran who cannot be reached.
Answer the call
When major storms or incidents occur, VA may contact Veterans in affected areas by phone, text or email with real-time information about clinic closures, alternate care sites, pharmacy refills and evacuation guidance.
Veterans are urged to do two things: prepare and respond.
If you are a Veteran with high-risk medical conditions and a weather threat is predicted, keep your phone charged and save your VA medical center’s number in your contacts. If a call or text comes from VA during a weather threat, open it. Read it. The message may ask if you need assistance, tell you where to refill a critical prescription, how to reach your care team by telehealth, or where the nearest alternate clinic is located. Missing that message could mean missing care.
VA also asks Veterans to make sure their contact information—phone number, address and email—is current in the system before storm season intensifies. It takes minutes to update, and it ensures VA can reach you when it matters most.
The heat is a weapon too
Hurricanes command attention. Heat kills quietly.
For Veterans managing heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease, mental illnesses or chronic pain, and particularly for those taking medications that affect hydration or circulation, a heat wave can become a medical emergency faster than a storm surge. When a hurricane knocks out power and air conditioning disappears for a week, extreme heat is not a secondary concern. It becomes the primary threat.
“Heat conditions aren’t always portrayed as a disaster event, like hurricanes, but they are just as deadly, especially for Veterans with chronic health conditions,” said Dr. Aarthi Chary, M.D., leading Biodefense, Readiness and Response in VHA’s Public Health National Program Office.
Chary co-chairs the National Integrated Heat Health Information System (NIHHIS), an integrated information system supporting heat resilience and providing heat risk-related information and resources on Heat.gov.
“Talk with your VA provider now about how heat affects your specific conditions and medications,” Chary said. “Know where your nearest cooling center is. Have water stored. Have a plan to check on the Veterans you know who live alone.”
What to do this week
Veterans and their families don’t need to overhaul their lives to be prepared. Just consider taking these focused steps now:
- Check your medications. Keep at least a 2-week supply on hand and carry a written list of prescriptions. Veterans can request emergency prescription refills through MyHealtheVet or VA Health Connect.
- Know your power vulnerabilities. If you use oxygen, a CPAP, dialysis equipment or a power wheelchair, or other electricity-dependent medical devices, talk to your VA provider today about backup options. The same applies if you need IVs, feeding pumps, nebulizers and refrigerators for medications that must be stored at a certain temperature.
- Build a simple kit. Water, food, flashlights, batteries, documents, pet supplies—and a plan for where you will go if you must leave.
- Update your VA contact info. Call your VA medical center or log in to VA.gov to confirm your phone number and address are current.
- Have a family plan. Know your evacuation route, meeting point, and who will check on you and practice it before the storm. Be sure to sign up for and pay close attention to local alerts and emergency information with special instructions from officials.
One Storm Changes Everything
Veterans know something that most people only learn in a crisis: conditions can deteriorate fast, and the window to act closes quickly.
The same discipline that carried you through difficult situations—planning ahead, staying connected, knowing your resources—is exactly what will carry you and your family through this hurricane season.
When disasters hit, it can take a significant toll on people’s mental health. Call the Veterans Crisis Line by dialing 988 and pressing 1 for free, confidential, 24/7 support.
VA is ready. Its emergency teams across the country are prepared. The question is whether Veterans will take the steps today to make that system work for them when it counts.
“One storm is all it takes. The time to prepare is not after it forms, not after it makes landfall. It’s now,” Neal said.
Learn more about the steps to take to be Veteran Ready by visiting Ready.gov/hurricanes.
Find resources to help you and your loved ones be prepared and resilient by visiting VA’s Disaster Resources page online.
Author: Jason Davis