The National Disaster Medical System (NDMS)

During the 1950s, Emergency Management underwent several changes due to relations between the US and the Soviet Union and the Cold War. The fear of a nuclear war and fallout prompted the creation of many civil defense programs and the building of bomb shelters to protect individuals and families. Along with the civil defense program, two major organizations were created due to the Cold War scare, the Federal Civil Defense Administrator (FCDA), and the Office of Defense and Civilian Mobilization (ODCM). Civil defense programs were run by the local government, with state level liaison and functioned under the Federal Civil Defense Administrator. Civil defense directors were typically retired military personnel and they generally received

Disaster is anything that can occur causing damages, an ecological disruption and deterioration of health and the health services. Disaster can be manmade or natural disasters such as floods. When disasters like flooding or tornadoes that may be accompanied by floods occur, the public health personnel and public health nurses are normally the first people who respond to the emergency, given that they are the people who understand and know the available resources used in providing first aids to the affected victims.

The impact of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall in August 2005 had catastrophic implications to the healthcare infrastructure in portions of coastal and southern Mississippi, including hospitals being closed due to severe damage. The healthcare response system of the time relied almost exclusively on support resources from the federal government (Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2010). By design, these teams were not able to support the local healthcare system for several days, leaving a void of services for the citizens that were hardest hit by the storm. Also during this time, the healthcare system of Mississippi faced several other critical challenges including the need for rapid assessment of impacted facilities, movement of patients between hospitals, and coordination of emergency medical services (Darsey, 2013). It is important to note that the disruption of the healthcare system resulted in challenges associated with a vulnerable population’s normal routine being severely disrupted. Additional complicating factors were a high incidence of exacerbation of chronic illnesses due to environmental conditions, loss of medications, emotional stressors, and other causes associated with the interruption of their normal level of care (Currier, King, Wofford, Daniel, & deShazo, 2006). These response challenges, coupled with the void in timely healthcare services, led to the creation of the State Medical Response System (SMRS) of Mississippi.

In day to day operations, uncertainties do occur. Henceforth it would be important to have a contingent and well detailed disaster preparedness plan and procedures. Healthcare systems, on a day to day basis, are faced with emergencies in form of disasters. As a result, majority of medical centers have well-structured exit plans in the event of a disaster occurring("Hospital Disaster Preparedness: Your Guide to Getting Started - Emergency Preparedness", 2011). However, this essay will aim at interviewing one of the top disaster preparedness staffat the Houston Methodist Hospital. In the interview, I will seek to identify the top three disasters that the Houston Methodist Hospital is prepared for. Similarly, in the interview, I would seek to identify the top lessons learnt from disaster preparedness at the hospitals.As it concludes it would summarize the findings with regards to the interview stated below. Below is an excerpt from the interview to answer the two aforementioned questions.

The national agencies involved in pre and post-disaster management and planning are The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in connection with The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and The Ready Campaign. FEMA was first implemented during President Jimmy Carter's term in 1979. Their mission is dedicated to nationally support and protect citizens throughout the country during natural or manmade disasters (Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2017). FEMA works closely together with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security along with local and state governments to provide extensive disaster relief efforts and necessary assistance during any crisis (Department Homeland Security, 2016). FEMA offers both pre and post-disaster

NIMS is a uniform set of processes and procedures that emergency responders at all levels of government will use to conduct response operations. NIMS helps improve cooperation and interoperability among organizations. The framework is adaptable and accessible. It encourages all hazards preparedness. NIMS enables a variety of organizations to contribute successfully in emergency management and incident response. NIMS creates uniform professional emergency management and incident response practices.

During a declared disaster, the State Medical Assistance Teams (SMAT) are coordinated by the SMRS. They are requested and activated as an ESF-8 resource. These teams may be requested by other states across the nation to respond to major events through a mutual aid system between states (Mississippi State Medical Assistance Team, 2008). The SMAT concept was again modeled after the North Carolina SMRS SMAT, allowing for enhanced interoperability between the two states. One SMAT is up to a fifty-bed mobile field hospital designed to support impacted healthcare systems in a disaster. Mississippi has three SMAT units that may be deployed separately or combined. These teams provide the state of Mississippi an effective, all-hazards solution to support various missions. These mission profiles include disaster field medical care, alternate care site, weapons of mass destruction response, hazardous material response, contingency management, pharmaceutical point of distribution, and/or event medical support (Mississippi MED-1, 2009). The SMAT staff are both non-clinical and clinical providers from around Mississippi that undergo advanced disaster training and orientation to the mobile field hospital setting. Each of the SMAT mobile field hospitals provides a full array of clinical services that include cardiac telemetry, digital x-ray, ultrasound, ventilators, and intravenous pumps. Combining the efforts of the advanced trained staff with the

The capacity of any health care organization to endure a particular hazard and to respond and recover rapidly from any compromised medical services is crucial. Giving attention to this area will ensure that stable platforms are in place to counter any emerging medical surge needs.

The NIMS system was developed to aid in the management of incidents and disasters in the community. This essay will briefly describe what the NIMS is and its function in disaster relief.

In a disaster where healthcare facilities are face with a large number casualties, mass casualty triage is use to allocate the facilities resources to do the greatest good for the most people. Mass casualty is a four colored coded tag system, starting with red tags; immediate, these are life or limb threatening, but are survivable. Followed by yellow tags; delayed, which are injuries that are significant and require medical treatment; however, they are non-life or limb threatening and can wait for hours. Next are green tags; minimal injuries that are minor and can wait for hours or days be for receiving treatment. Lastly is the black tags; expectant, which are injuries that are extensive and chances for survival is unlikely (Hinkle & Cheever,

Tuesday, August 30th, the morning after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Louisiana, Anne Pou, a head-and-neck surgeon, looked out the window of Memorial Medical Center to see water gushing from the sewer gates, rushing towards the hospital (Fink). Senior administrators quickly set up a command center to assess the impending danger gushing towards the hospital and to decide what the next plan of action should be. Decisions were made to evacuate patients in order of importance. Richard Deichmann, the hospital’s medical-department chairman also suggested that patients with Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) orders should go last (Fink). The plan was set to action as the natural disaster continued to take its toll on the limited medical personnel available

The two memorandum of Understanding chosen are; the first one between The American National Red Cross and State of Maryland. This memorandum defines the working relationship between the two partners as a preparation towards responding towards certain disaster situations. The document provides a broad framework for cooperation between the Red Cross and the State of Maryland in provision of emergency services to victims of disaster. The Red Cross is stead fast in emergency response and this document articulates the organization's mission and vision concerning response in emergencies.

He has the Interregional Civil Security Operational Co-ordination Centre (COZ) at his disposal in fulfilling this task.

The purpose for this Disaster Recovery Plan is to primarily maintain all of the information and material appropriate to the initiative’s ability to survive a disaster, and to document all the phases that the initiative will take if a disaster does occur. The first priority of the TC-MACT if a disaster does occur is to prevent the loss of lives. In order to move to the second step, we must guarantee all personnel and other members on the premises are safe and secure. Once we can guarantee the safety of individuals, the next objective of the TC-MACT will be to ratify the steps outlined in this DRP to bring all of the agencies, groups and departments back to business-as-usual as quickly as possible. Although CERT programs vary in some ways, they all share the potential to offer significant benefits to their sponsoring organizations, their communities and their citizens. As with any activity, there is risk.

On August 29, 2009, Hurricane Katrina struck the United States Gulf Coast. It was a Category 3 Hurricane, according to the Saffir Simpson Scale. Winds gusted to up to 140 miles per hour, and the hurricane was almost 400 miles wide . The storm itself did a tremendous amount of damage, but the storm’s aftermath was cataclysmic. Many claimed that the federal government was slow to meet the needs of the hundreds of thousands of people affected by the storm. This paper will examine the four elements of disaster management – preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation – as well as an analysis on the data presented.