Emergency Preparedness : Planning For Disaster Response

This research paper looks at the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS). The National Disaster Medical System is a federally coordinated system that helps build the nations medical response capability during major medical or public health incidents that states and local communities cannot handle by themselves (USDHHS, 2015). The research in this article draws upon the history of the establishment of NDMS, and how other hospital teams were first created. The focus of this paper is to explain the goals, mission statement, objectives, and funding of the NDMS. The final section of this paper will explain how the NDMS fits into Emergency Management at the state and local levels, and explain all the different teams in NDMS medical and health professionals can sign up for.

Hospitals are dependent on external support and supplies, which makes them vulnerable institutions in an event of disaster. Any disruption of external supplies or support services can halt essential hospital operations, which can put the community, patients and staff at increased risk during a disaster. Having an emergency preparedness plan that is current along with performing continuous testing and training of the hospital staff ensures that hospital staff can respond effectively and efficiently to any disaster whether it is terrorism, weather or a pandemic

The paramount goal of disaster management activities is to reduce, as much as possible, the degree to which a community’s condition is worsened by a disaster relative to its pre-disaster condition. If a disaster strikes it important to know what to do or were to find the information if do not know. First responders who are well-prepared will have the peace of mind to focus on the task at hand if well prepared and trained. First responders can also serve as role models for other members of the community, leading by example to encourage preparedness. First responders can encourage their communities to make family plans and to be informed about the types of emergencies and disasters. Law enforcement should look to do training such as the Emergency Management Institute (EMI) which offers self-paced courses free-of-charge courses [Department of Homeland Security. (2017)]. Planning and being prepared for a terrorist attack provides the structure and mechanisms for national level policy and operational coordination and provides emergency managers, the understanding, the knowledge, and the steps to prepare, counter and respond to a terrorist attack. It more importantly helps to instill confidence and cohesion within

Planning is a critical component in crisis recovery strategies and has been emphasized in Mental Health All-Hazards Disaster Planning Guidance from the United States Department of Health And Human Services. The significance of the planning process that involves various agencies and organizations were asserted in the interview with the Red Cross’s regional coordinator. Similar sentiments have been presented in the prescribed response plans in the article. The article asserts “individual and organizational relationships among interested parties are formed and solidified” (USDHH, 2003). This is in conformity with the responses give during the interview where it was asserted the development of fluid and cohesive response environment is dependent

According to Baack and Alfred (2013), nurses must be educated with regard to disaster preparedness to ensure that hospitals are ready to provide care in the community should a disaster occur. This oversight at TMC is a weakness in the hospital’s EOP; staff must be educated and scenarios practiced in case a natural disaster, such as a hurricane, threatens the Charleston area. Without this training, the hospital cannot function at maximum efficiency during a time when patients and community members are most vulnerable.

Any disaster or event leaves questions in its wake. Who, what, where, when, and why? Preparing a plan with these questions in mind makes answering them when the time calls for it that much easier. An emergency response plan is prepared to react and correct to a wide spectrum of what makes a disaster, but it cannot do this effectively without buy-in from those who can best do the work to answer the definitive questions. Responding to an emergency means working together. By that end, cooperation is the most important aspect of the United States emergency management system in Preparing for, mitigating, and responding to man-made and natural disasters because it makes information sharing, specialization, and proper resource allocation

Being located in an area prone to hurricanes which happen to be one of the most common natural catastrophic events, the institution has employed a catastrophic emergency plan to cope with the aftermaths of the occurrence of a hurricane. They have developed a homeland security training program at Penn state medical Centre. In the program they teach students to acquire the skills of being ready, flexible and adaptive in order to cope with any catastrophic event. Dr.Cherry, a medical director of the Penn state shock trauma Centre provides that cultivating that cultivation of this culture mainly among the leaders in the field of medicine as well as any other business is a way to increase security in the facilities as well as the employees which is essential for disaster survival. It will further allow the organization to get back to normal productivity. He is also making plans for additional programmers to prepare the leaders of tomorrow and also encourages everyone to establish emergency response plans to enable them to be prepared for whatsoever the situation that comes to them. Adopting a flexible emergency plan that paves way for change is crucial for it is very difficult to deal with an inflexible emergency plan in situations of emergency. Says

An emergency plan is an important element of the system of measures aiming to minimize the impact of incidents using specially defined procedures by people with appropriate training and resources. Although, the emergency plan can not prevent emergencies, but it does help to save lives, protect equipment, property, and the environment. For this to happen, such plans need to be carefully prepared, documented, and tested, prior to the occurrence of the specific event.

Emergencies are situations that cannot be avoided in any healthcare organization whenever there are security threats. Early preparations are therefore important to solve any problem that may arise during such situations. In order to prepare healthcare organization for emergencies, an effective emergency plan must be in place to ensure the safety and health of patients and the public at large.

Disasters, both man-made and natural, occur on a regular basis. It is the responsibility of community officials to prepare ahead of time for these disasters, to ensure residents receive needed care immediately following the disaster and in the following weeks while the community recovers. Because of this communities have created emergency response plans and have trained personnel already in place when such events occur. The following is a discussion of the employees involved in a disaster plan and was obtained from “Disaster in Franklin County, A Public Health Simulation” that was created by the University of Minnesota.

Disasters as we know it comes on suddenly without warning, it can happen anywhere, anytime or at any hour. In order to regain control of an event is to be prepared at all times. Often, danger occurs, leaving many lives unprepared for catastrophes or misfortunes. As a Health Care Administrator of a hospital it is important to be prepared at all times, not only is it a duty, but it is the job of the Administrator to ensure the safety of its patients at all times. Therefore, it is the Administrator’s duty to ensure their team is prepared at all times for any and all disasters. Being prepared for each and every incident that arises saves that many more lives.

The cycle of emergency management continues with response to an emergency or disaster. The goal in this stage is to bring order to chaos. By alleviating confusion it allows an organized response. (Faggiano & McNall, 2012) An organized response to disasters is vital to mitigating the loss of lives and property. To properly respond during a disaster there must be a coordinated response, complete with information sharing and exceptional communication. Communication must involve all responding agencies and governments as well as the affected population. Of course, information is valuable and not all information should be shared, but the population must be informed of the disaster.

Without planned and tested organizational and community control of emergency response mitigation, efforts can be like herding cats. Our collective community and organizational actions for response to both disasters and emergencies regardless of scope need effective and effective management. The execution of imagination using the worst imaginable scenario and walking through all of the points of failure will enable the team to plan and exercise actions for a wide variety of situations. In

News stations cover various disasters every single day. Sitting behind the screen, people effortlessly deceive themselves into thinking that they will not face similar situations. However the reality is that not only are everyone potential victims of such scenarios, but they are also liable to the aftermath of the incident and its ripple effects. Acknowledging the possibility of experiencing a disaster is the first step towards effective recovery and responsiveness. The next step is to formulate a response system to various disaster scenarios and test it out. During the formulation of a plan, the disaster scenarios and objectives need to be agreed upon while concurrently managerial and technical actions are thoroughly defined (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 2007, p. 68). Evidently, there are costs associated with developing a contingency plan which in the short-term may appear unnecessary; nevertheless as a response to the increasing number of disasters, contingency planning is essential to scheme to allow an organization to swiftly return to its operations while avoiding superfluous costs and minimizing casualties as a result of the increase in the overall effectiveness of response to an emergency or critical situation.

Emergency Preparedness is known to be the discipline of dealing with and avoiding both natural and man-made disasters. It involves mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery in order to lessen the impact of disasters and public health threats. Emergency preparedness requires a partnership among all levels of government (local, State, and Federal) and the private sector (business and industry, voluntary organizations, and the public). Successful preparedness requires detailed planning and cooperation among each sector1. Emergency preparedness ranges from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) developing a plan to mitigate natural disasters to the individual ensuring their car has plenty of fuel for a possible evacuation.