The Importance Of Public Health Disasters

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 primary response to the Haiti earthquake disaster would involve the issuance of the mandatory briefing, proper gear, and shots before taking off to Haiti. For Haiti nationals, immunization against outbreaks of measles, Hepatitis, and other communicable diseases would come in handy. Education in how to prevent, reduce and avoid spread of commun diseases during this type of event, will be essesntial. On the other hand, the secondary intervention would involve the evaluation of the damage, screening for injuries and diseases, such as infectious and communicable diseases. Finally, the tertiary intervention for the Haiti disaster would involve follow up care and post-traumatic stress educational forums for all the affected individuals (Katz,

John M. Barry has written award winning books including the Influenza pandemic of 1918, and the great Mississippi flood. Being invited by 2 presidential administrations, Bush and Obama, to advise on preparedness for pandemics and pandemic response. Having also advised on state, federal, UN and world health organizations on influenza, water disasters, risk communication and crisis management Barry is more than qualified to talk about such a topic considering his past of assisting the world with disaster prevention and response.

and Dentistry and Director of the Program in Disaster Mental Health in the Department of Psychiatry and the UR Center for Disaster Medicine and Emergency Preparedness. For over a decade, he has responded to numerous national disasters as a volunteer with the American Red Cross. He has also developed comprehensive disaster mental health training programs for the New York State Office of Mental Health and the New York State Department of Health currently being disseminated throughout every county, state psychiatric center and acute healthcare facility throughout New York State.

CDC has a goal to reduce potential outbreaks of the preventable disease in a large group setting from the disaster with the use of vaccines (CDC, 2013). The public nurse is educating those communities regarding the importance of strengthening their immune system with receiving vaccines. The community and individuals will also be education on where to get the vaccines and how to manage themselves after vaccination for the event of the second complication. The community health nurses have a central role in providing prevention of disease and promotion health education after catastrophic like an earthquake.

The disaster which hit the Maricopa County in the State of Arizona in September 2014 was a major disaster that necessitated the community preparedness for leading successful response and a prompt recovery. Besides emergency managers, many officials and the private are involved in the processes. Some of these stakeholders are public health, public safety, and municipal officials. Collaboration is needed for getting all those involved in the processes to interact accordingly. This paper addresses the major collaboration strengths between emergency responders, public health, public safety, and municipal officials to deliver accurate response and recovery during the event, the main weaknesses of the collaboration among all those that were involved in the efforts, and recommendations for improving the collaboration between the stakeholders.

Author Rebecca Katz, a Professor at The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, focuses on protecting our health throughout the world when “targeting environmental disasters and preventing diseases.” She mentions the tragedy of 9/11. When 9/11 happened so many hearts were broken, so many lives were taken and the world was just at a complete scare. United States had to take action and protocol to protect the citizens. In order to keep our nation safe, Public Health Preparedness needs and should be followed as a process. I say that because just not the United States but the world needs to know what to do and follow when there are disasters, tragedies’ whether they are little or big. Katz mention, “Citizens will

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

G., Ruiz, R. I., Arbolay, H. R., . . . O’Neill, E. (2018, March 23). Initial Public Health Laboratory Response After Hurricane Maria — Puerto Rico, 2017. Retrieved May 20, 2018, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5868205/

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.

Protecting the public’s health historically has been a state and local responsibility. However, the growing threat of bioterrorism has highlighted the importance of a strong public health infrastructure to the nation’s homeland security and has focused increased attention on the preparedness of the public health system (Frist, 2011). Since the 2001 anthrax attacks Congress has passed new legislation to increase the strength of the nation’s public health system thus the funding has also rapidly increased to meet the potential demand. There is an ongoing debate however, as to what level of contribution local, state, and federal agency’s feel is an appropriate level of ongoing public health investments.

Katz, R. (2018). Essentials of public health preparedness and emergency management (1st ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning

Natural disasters play a significant role in the world. Natural disasters have demonstrated to be a force that humanity has no control over. Regardless of the technological advances natural disasters continue to exist and occur through the world. Several technology advances have been created to predict natural disasters; however these occurrences cannot be controlled.

The first responders to any biological attack would not be agents from the Center for Disease Control (CDC), but rather local emergency responders such as “doctors and local public health authorities” (Cohen M2). However, many emergency workers don’t have the training to deal with biochemical threats. Washington’s Center for Strategic and

Natural disasters will always cause damage to the infrastructures and public health of the affected communities. Low income countries are the most vulnerable because of a lack of preparation for coping with the displaced population. Displaced populations of vulnerable areas are often subjected to poor sanitation and hygiene practices and inaccessible clean water, both as effects of crowding and being in an unfamiliar environment. It is the primary cause of communicable diseases following natural disasters. Until recently, policy makers were widely under the misconception that disease is spread from bodies. While it is still exaggerated in the media, the main cause of illness and death following disasters is due to an inadequate provision of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) practices. Preparation by governments and foreign organizations should focus on the sanitation of those displaced in order to address communicable diseases in the short term. Having a strong plan before the disaster can promote sustained WASH practices after disaster recovery and improve long term health.