As warmer weather teases us once again, the recovery from January’s historic ice storm continues. The Metro Public Health Department (MPHD) played several roles during the ice storm’s response stage, from providing medical and mental health assistance at emergency shelters to caring for the community’s animals in need to sharing information about carbon monoxide dangers and food safety during a power outage. One area where MPHD was active was in helping to preserve emergency healthcare capacity across Nashville — keeping hospital emergency departments available for true emergencies and ensuring EMS units remained in service for critical calls.
Through the Tennessee Highland Rim Healthcare Coalition (TNHRHCC), MPHD connected hospitals, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), emergency management, long-term care, and public health agencies to coordinate disaster response in real time. Two facility evacuations were managed — including a large assisted living and memory care facility in the county — while proactive steps prevented additional evacuations. Critically, non-emergent evacuees were routed away from emergency departments using alternative EMS resources, protecting emergency department capacity, and allowing Nashville EMS and Fire to keep units available for emergency response.
MPHD is the only entity in Nashville-Davidson County with a dedicated TNHRHCC, serving as a central point of contact for evacuation planning, resource sharing, medical-surge coordination, and emergency preparedness. The ice storm made this work visible — but TNHRHCC operates year-round to sustain healthcare continuity and strengthen community resilience, a key component in our goal of moving toward a healthier Nashville.
