American Red Cross In Disasters

Fires, Hurricanes, Floods Tsunamis are environmental catastrophes that can change a person‘s life. Victims of environmental catastrophes are among the homeless populations. These victims may feel feeling powerless and confused, having lost the structure of their daily lives and routines. As a human service professional I may be able to get my client settled in a temporary shelter, get them involved in a support group for emotional support, Food, Clothing Financial aid Housing assistance and education about psychological impact of disaster.

For decades, America has fought in many different wars with the need of health assistance for their soldiers. The American Red Cross is a worldwide organization that helped during the times of war but also provided a path for scientific advancements. Through the American Red Cross and other organizations of this time, they opened up the doors for women to take the chance to advance in the medical field by participating in scientific experiments and being at the aide of wounded soldiers. During this time of scrutiny, the Great War was a hidden opportunity for the encroachment of medical research with the contribution to the expansion of nursing.

The disaster nurses are known to be more professional in nursing skills to meet the nursing physical needs that results from the disaster. They mainly focus on health of communities and the entire population. This paper analyzes the role of major public health personnel and public health nurse in disaster management, with particular interest in the flood event occasioned by a tornado. It also describes chain of commands used in simulation for community health nurse and actions that can be taken by the community health nurse to solve the situation after disaster.

The most important aspect in managing a disaster situation is preparedness. The simulation Disaster in Franklin County highlights the role of public health personnel, with emphasis on the public health nurse because the nurse is often a first responder to such a disaster. This helps to examine the roles, actions, coping methods, and techniques used by a nurse in a disaster scenario.

Problems resulting from disasters linger for quite some time after the acute phase in a disaster and victims may have issues arise that they were not aware of initially. Community health nurses are often a primary point of contact for many of these situations and must be prepared for various problems. Sometimes, they are called on to simply reassure the victim that they are not alone in the situation and that help will continue to come. When a nurse allows a victim to discuss their concerns, the nurse can quickly expedite referrals to the appropriate area if it is out of their scope of practice. Occasionally, just having the validation and reassurance from a professional instills hope that things will get better soon. In the situation where the

Undoubtedly, the American Red Cross has done many wonders over the course of its existence. Whether it is providing relief from disasters, aiding the less fortunate nationally and internationally or saving lives with their blood program, the Red Cross has always been there to help the world become a safer place to live in. Most recently, this organization has had a strong impact in the recovery of “Superstorm” Sandy and Hurricane Isaac, providing food and water, multiple shelters for people that have lost their homes and even counseling during such a devastating time (“Top 20 Accomplishments”).

The American Red Cross is a major organization in the United States and around the world. Clara Barton founded the American chapter in 1881. She was a public servant who decided to get involved during the civil war by attending to wounded soldiers and feeding them on the battlefield. Her sense of humanitarian work was only strengthened by her trip to Europe during the Franco Prussian war, where she discovered the initiative of Henri Dunant (Reitman, 1996). After the battle of Solfinero, this Swiss banker was shocked by the carnage of war and decided to gather doctors and volunteers around the village to help tend to the wounded. This action motivated him to create a nonpartisan organization that can focus on caring for people wounded in wars and conflicts regardless of their origin. (Reitman, 1996). The organization was ratified in the 1864 Geneva Convention by twelve countries and later by many others. The United States Red Cross was founded due to the efforts of Barton in Washington (Reitman, 1996). The first chapter of the national American Red Cross was created in upstate New York. Later, the organization received funding to create its national headquarters in Washington. Since then, the Red Cross has benefited form a close relationship with Washington as it was created by congressional charter more than a century ago and plays a

Nursing revolves, not merely about looking after patients, but creating awareness in the society about self care nursing and prevention strategies and to communicate with their patients in a holistic manner, so as to satisfy their physical, mental and spiritual health needs. Various nursing theorists have repeatedly

Editor’s Note: This Chapter is the continuation of an adaptation of a state plan for disaster preparation and response. In total, the original chapter comprises Chapters 1, 14, 16-18.

California is notorious for its wildfires. In the last two decades San Diego County has faced some of the most destructive firestorms in state history (Brainard, 2007). Ron Roberts, chairman of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, describes the county’s disposition as, "We have a very dangerous, unpredictable situation. We have some of the highest temperatures, some of the driest landscape conditions, and some of the most powerful winds - all ingredients for a perfect firestorm (Pesce, 2007)." In 2003, San Diego County was overwhelmed by firestorms, including the Cedar Fire, and at that time it was the worst in state history. However, in 2007 San Diego was once again devastated by firestorms, but this time more mighty than the preceding (Ekard, Tuck, Jr., & Steffen, 2003). San Diego has had its fair share of practice at managing firestorm response actions. The 2003 firestorms proved that there were numerous inefficiencies within the county’s emergency response plan, while the 2007 firestorms emergency response revealed the lessons learned from 2003 and improvements implemented were effective. The threat of future firestorms in San Diego County are inevitable due to the continuing drought, Santa Anna winds, climate changes, and human behavior (Pesce, 2007). Having a well-constructed Incident Command System (ICS) and the trained personnel to execute its model is the most effective measure to mitigate the degree of life lost and property damage in a disaster incident. A

The article, “Firefighter dies battling California's 4th largest fire in history, officials say,” explains to the reader about a very tragic wildfire that unfortunately killed a courageous fireman. Reports conclude that the brave man killed was a 32-year-old man named, Cory Iverson. His very upsetting decease will leave behind his pregnant wife and two-year-old daughter. Published on December 14th, 2017, this article captures the reader’s attention right away. Due to the deplorable blaze in Montecito California, thousands of people were forced to evacuate out of their homes, to a safer environment where the oxygen is not littered with smoke and ash. To elaborate, the article, “Firefighter dies battling California's

Go-to place for disasters: As of right now, the Hawaii Red Cross tries to not be the go-to place virtually for the community in the time of disasters. The chapter rather wants to point people in the right direction. The communications manager said that if something major happens, they will not be the source of breaking news anyway. Therefore, the Red Cross direct virtual visitors to the National Weather Service, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, the County of Hawaii Civil Defense and such. As the Red Cross is a well known humanitarian organization, there is a lot of potential in making the people go to its social media sites or website

Whenever a disaster strikes an unsuspecting community, from natural weather events like hurricanes and tornadoes to the manmade catastrophes caused by contamination, local community health nurses become a lifeline for stricken victims, providing medical care, basic sanitation, and nutritional sustenance. While treating the ailments of the sick and dressing the wounds of the injured are the chief priorities for any nursing professional, community health nurses typically administer care within a close-knit population group, and this familiarity often requires the offering of spiritual support as well. The immediate aftermath of any major disaster, whether natural or manmade, is a chaotic time when panic, fear, and uncertainty can easily run rampant, and community health nurses must prepare themselves to handle the nonmedical aspects of assisting patients through their recovery. Setting aside one's personal views on organized religion or faith, alleviating a patient's outward symptoms can only be effective to a certain point when they are grieving for the sudden loss of a loved one, or contemplating an uncertain future after their property and

The burden of emergency management has grown great deal in the last few decades. We have seen an increase in natural disasters, a new threat of terrorism on our front door and an increase in manmade disasters. All of these have tested emergency management in a number of cities and towns across the nation. It is not always disasters that present problems for emergency managers. We have to look beyond our traditional view of emergency management of helping us during times of disasters and view what issues they consider may affect their emergency response. Issues that emergency management see that are moving into the critical area are issues of urbanization and hazard exposure, the rising costs of disaster recovery, and low priority of emergency management.

Taiwan experienced a lot of disasters in recent several years, including a huge earthquake in 1999, air-crash in 1998 and 2001, and many typhoons and floods every year and SARS in 2003. These incidents created demands that challenged our medical infrastructures. The emergency medical preparedness programs evolved a lot in response to medical surge in these disasters.