Disaster Response Planning
Disasters, especially anthropogenic types, are an existing menace that is becoming more common across the world. Disaster response is regarded as efforts conducted in advance of, throughout, and shortly following an event to minimize its impacts and provide urgent assistance to those impacted. The emergency planning phase, which is a series of processes used to build or revise a contingency plan, is the most successful stage of emergency preparedness management. It addresses the issues leading to poor hazard management, which are presented in the slide. The planning aids in developing the cohesion that response teams would require during an actual catastrophe, which is the focus of the current paper.
Community Needs
Weather-related disasters and other natural catastrophes not only create massive financial loss but also significantly adversely affect those impacted by the occurrences. This last point is crucial for efficient emergency management, meaning the community needs are to be prioritized. It has been determined that Valley City’s vulnerable population has specific needs, such as language assistance services for non-English speakers and not hearing persons. Moreover, medical assistance is essential for multiple citizens with complex diseases and acute care for potentially impacted people. At the same time, some people might depend on the city to provide supplies and shelter in case of emergency.
Equitable Allocation of Services and Resources
As a result, it has been identified that there are particular resources, personnel, and budget needs for successful disaster response. The resources include enhanced methods of communication, both for citizens with language or hearing problems and officials who coordinate hazard response. Furthermore, the Valley City Regional Hospital requires adequate equipment to treat patients with severe conditions and those who might be impacted during an emergency, which guarantees equitable resource allocation. The hospital also needs a permanent nursing staffing ratio corresponding to the population’s needs. Finally, the city should ensure water supplies and shelter for the economically disadvantaged. All described services and resources demand an appropriate budget, which could be gained from funding.
Representatives Accountable for the Implementation
The protection of citizens from risks must be prioritized in disaster preparation strategy. Enhancing emergency communication networks, increasing access to resources, and securing weak infrastructure are all central themes for risk-based planning activities. However, the responsibility for implementing the plan lies with particular people. As such, the city should create the Disaster Recovery Committee, which should consist of representation from all critical departments. Namely, the heads of the fire and police departments should implement new communication networks with the hospital and train their staff for the emergency. The city mayor and CFOs of the critical departments should establish a connection with FEMA, whose representatives must allocate funding. Finally, the regional hospital’s administrator and operations chief should design and manage personnel training.
Healthy People 2020 Goals and 2030 Objectives
Both Healthy People 2020 and Healthy People 2030 focus on ensuring that people, communities, and institutions are ready for catastrophes, disease epidemics, and medical crises. The current disaster preparation aims at reaching the goals and objectives of the organization as well. The primary efforts of the plan are concerned with establishing personnel, budget, and resources for emergency response and training the city’s facilities for this purpose in advance of the disaster.
Map-It Plan and Timeline
Insufficient practices at Vila Health resulted in confusion, personnel overload, and unnecessary resource utilization, indicating the need for an enhanced Disaster Recovery strategy. This strategy will include specific principles and practices following the MAP-IT framework. The first component of the MAP-IT approach is the mobilization of cooperating partners. Vila Health partners include police and fire agencies, community management, and the nearest local healthcare facilities, and they should develop communication methods in three months. The next phase in the MAP-IT framework is to assess community needs, which has already been done and is summarized on the slide. The city should guarantee the resources and services needed for the community in four months.
MAP-IT furthermore entails planning to reduce current health inequities and improve people’s access to services. The Disaster Response Committee must establish these goals by working with patient identification and assessment, care, and resource planning concerns. The head of the disaster response group should maintain continual touch with the appropriate authorities. When preparing the hospital’s and department’s budgets, administrators and department leaders should ensure that they have all the supplies and equipment needed to fulfill their facilities’ present demands and items required in the event of an emergency. Notably, some funds will also be needed for employee training. Thus, the community’s vulnerable members will be ensured to have access to emergency services.
It is essential to involve the community in various methods to effectively support the recovery plan’s execution. Local companies may donate to guarantee that resources are available when needed. Another approach for involving and preparing the community in the event of a disaster is information distribution. Examining previous disasters, the existing condition, and possible dangers should serve as the foundation for the formulation of the recovery plan. Implementing a new, enhanced disaster response plan will help some Healthy People 2020 goals and Healthy People 2030 objectives. Most of the commitment will be related to goals involving the availability of health care and satisfying the needs of individuals with disabilities.
The final element of the MAP-IT framework is tracking, which should be reflected in the plan as well. In the case of a new emergency, the disaster response team should implement contact tracing for the homeless, disabled, relocated community members, migrant workers, and people with hearing problems or English as a second language. As such, the committee should identify and interview the mentioned community members or their relatives and caregivers. They should establish the needs of these people’s needs and receive information on how to connect with them in case of emergency. Afterward, the administration should regularly monitor the vulnerable population and check whether their close people are in contact with the community.
Patient Triage
Patient triage and rescue operations over the following six months are of special significance due to the recent train derailment in Villa City. Triage is used in mass casualty scenarios to determine who is most immediately in need of transfer to a clinic for care and who has less severe injuries and, therefore, must await medical attention. As such, the patients with casualties requiring immediate life-saving treatment must be operated on before all others since only on-time actions can prolong their lives. Next, patients with casualties that require significant intervention should be dealt with as soon as possible if their condition allows waiting. Those who do not require medical urgency but still need intervention may be placed in remote care. At the same time, people with minor problems should wait until enough practitioners would be available for work.
References List
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Contact Tracing for COVID-19. Web.
Healthy People 2020. (n.d.). Preparedness. U.S. Department of Health And Human Services. Web.
Healthy People 2030. (n.d.). Emergency Preparedness. U.S. Department of Health And Human Services. Web.
Stoppler, Melissa Conrad. (2018). Medical Triage (Color Tags, START) Terminology. MedicineNet. Web.