Community Health Nursing
Emergency Response
725.8.8
Stefanie Pipia
Western Governors University
April 18, 2014

Disaster in Franklin County In the event of a disaster there are many people with various roles needed to respond and meet the needs of the community affected. The role of major public health personnel is to assess the incident for immediate health needs, severity of health needs and the potential health risks of the community. The public health personnel have specific roles, responsibilities and functions to carry out during the disaster to identify, manage and minimize aftermath. The public health nurse can assess for immediate health needs related to injury and disability. They can identify and provide health related education to reduce the health risks related to the disaster as well as prevention of secondary conditions. Secondary conditions can be caused by food and water contamination and injury from chemical spills or exposure. The public health nurse can provide first aid treatment within their scope of practice, assess vital signs and communicate the need for other health related resources. They can manage of pre-existing conditions by assisting with transportation to shelters for those in need of electricity for nebulizers, oxygen or other necessary medical equipment. Coordinating with others to meet the needs for those on life sustaining medications, such as blood pressure or chemotherapy medications or people receiving dialysis treatment can be initiated and carried out by the public health nurse. The public health nurse can be perform door to door interviews and assessments of households to identify needs, provide assistance for acute distress or urgent medical conditions. During the assessment process the nurse must prioritize the needs and communicate with the proper departments so individual needs of the households can be met. During the disaster the community health nurse is directly overseen by the medical director. The medical director is responsible for reporting to the operations chief. The operations chief is the driving force in support services such as shelter for the community during the disaster. The operations chief is the direct link in communication with the operations commander who is calling all the shots. The operations commander is assigning responsibilities, gathering information for briefings, press conferences and town meetings. This chain of command assures communication between all team members to address the needs of the community. The community health nurse is capable of assisting in many situations but there are needs of the community that fall out of this scope of practice. An example during the simulation is the chemical spill that a homeowner informs her of. It is out of the nurse’s scope of practice to deal with this chemical spill so she communicates the need for environmental services to assess the situation. In a situation of ineffective coping the community health nurse can refer resources such as counseling services or social services when a household is in need of resources during or after the disaster. Some of the resources that can be brought in by the community health nurse to meet the needs of the community and individual households are epidemiology, environmental services, medical service delivery, food services or sanitation. All of these available resources provide an opportunity for the community nurse to offer a holistic approach in meeting the individual needs of the community. After the disaster the community health nurse assisted with interviews of people affected by the flood. During this interview process the nurse provided support and comfort to a caller that was concerned regarding her husband and daughters change in behavior. The nurse provided reassurance that there were many affected by the disaster and stress and adaptation can be difficult for many afterward. Resources were offered to the woman to assure follow up and help for her situation would be available. The community health nurse recognized ineffective coping in this situation. In the interview of a caller reporting mold and symptoms associated with the mold, the community nurse asked for information regarding the landlord and offered arrange for inspection of the home right away. During the interview process the community health nurse used techniques such as effective listening, providing a sense of security, asking direct questions, identifying needs and acting by initiated the appropriate resources with a sense of urgency to address the situation. Nursing personnel could be prepared to help in responding to a similar or larger emergency disaster situation by knowing and understanding the chain of command. Being familiar with available resources can assist in immediately identifying and communicating the need for resources early on in the disaster response. Early intervention in a disaster situation by nursing personnel can reduce secondary conditions during and after the disaster. Awareness of pre-existing medical conditions in the community, planning and effectively intervening and managing these medical conditions during an emergency can reduce the potential risk to the community. Managing an emergency disaster situation in the community is multi-disciplinary team approach to identify, contain and manage the situation. In disaster where there are plans and protocols in place and those responding know and understand their responsibilities and roles can minimize the impact the disaster has on the entire community.

References

CDC (Centers for Disease Control). (April 16, 2013). Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Retrieved on March 22, 2014 from http://www.cdc.gov/sars/index.html

Kutsar, K. (2004). The global epidemiology of SARS. Norwegian Institute of Public Health. Retrieved on April 2, 2014 from http://www.epinorth.org/eway/default.aspx?pid=230&trg=Area_5268&MainArea_5260=5263:0:15,2946:1:0:0:::0:0&Area_5263=5268:44984::1:5264:1:::0:0&Area_5268=5273:44424::1:5266:3:::0:0

PubMed Health. (2013). Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Retrieved on April 2, 2014 from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0004460/

Waukesha County Public Health. (2014). Public Health Response to Outbreatks. Retrieved on April 2, 2014 from https://www.waukeshacounty.gov/defaultwc.aspx?id=39013