Pediatric Disaster Readiness Project: Preparing the Gulf Coast to Protect Our Children in Emergencies
Disasters don’t strike evenly — and in the Gulf coast, children are too often at the epicenter of healthcare disparities and emergency planning gaps. The Gulf 7 Pediatric Disaster Readiness Project is Healthcare Ready’s response to this urgent need, focused on Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Puerto Rico.
Through a series of data-driven tools and community-centered research, we’ve developed the resources leaders need to protect our most vulnerable during crises — especially children with complex medical needs and those in underserved communities.
Explore the cornerstone resources of the Pediatric Disaster Readiness Project — built for public health leaders, emergency managers, healthcare providers, and policymakers.
CHI Profiles – Gulf Coast Region
The Gulf 7 Pediatric Critical Healthcare Infrastructure (CHI) Executive Summary provides a regional analysis of pediatric healthcare vulnerabilities and disaster preparedness across seven southeastern U.S. states and territories — Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Puerto Rico. The summary highlights disparities in healthcare access, socioeconomic inequities, and exposure to hurricanes, floods, and other natural hazards that place children at greater risk during emergencies. Designed to inform targeted resilience planning and investment, this assessment offers data-driven insights to strengthen pediatric disaster readiness and protect vulnerable populations across the Gulf Coast region.
Community Asset Mapping – Texas
This report provides a detailed picture of pediatric healthcare infrastructure across Texas, identifying where vital resources are concentrated and where critical gaps exist. It maps out essential services including trauma centers, children’s hospitals, pharmacies, and support systems for children who depend on technology or medication to survive.
Understanding these asset distributions allows emergency planners and decision-makers to anticipate bottlenecks, build backup systems, and strengthen response capacity where it’s needed most. The report also highlights how geography, poverty, and medical complexity intersect — and what that means for equitable disaster response
Regional Advisory Council (RAC) Profiles
These profiles capture the pediatric preparedness landscape across Texas’ 22 Regional Advisory Councils (RACs), highlighting each region’s healthcare infrastructure, trauma systems and specific community resources.
They’re designed to support regional planning, mutual aid agreements, and state-level coordination efforts and help you understand how care is organized, who the key stakeholders are as well as recognizing regional strengths and vulnerabilities.
Education & Policy Primers
The Education Primers provide decision-makers with essential insights into pediatric disaster readiness. These guides break down the most pressing issues and translate data into clear, actionable recommendations.
Each primer is tailored for real-world use in policy discussions, emergency response planning, and grant applications. They simplify the technical aspects, spotlight urgent gaps, and offer next steps for strengthening preparedness across the Gulf Coast and for pediatric emergency systems nationwide.