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essay about in the text, the author that discusses the role of public health personnel in disaster management.
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#Public Health Nurse Involved in the Disaster Management Research Paper
Disaster is the biggest catastrophe that puts the lives of human beings in danger. Disasters can either be man-made such as terrorism or natural disasters such as hurricane or tornados. Public health nurses need to be well prepared in order to act immediately in case a disaster happens.
There are various roles that public health personnel or nurses need to perform in times of disaster. In this case, the public health personnel are given the responsibility of ensuring that the population is fed with the right information concerning the step by step occurrences at the scene of the disaster. It is the duty of the public health personnel or nurses to provide food and safe drinking water to the victims and ensure that food products delivered to the victims are safe for human consumption. The personnel are supposed to issue directions on how the food in refrigerators and stores can be used and stored safely to avoid contamination. Public health personnel are also supposed to issue press briefs to explain how the situation is and offer the various alternatives that can be used in order to ensure each individual is safe (University of Minnesota, 2011).
Public health personnel are also supposed to inspect all the temporary shelters erected for the purposes of evacuating the victims by ensuring that they are of recommended conditions in terms of hygiene and human safety. Public health personnel should also ensure that all medical facilities required are provided and inspected to ascertain that that they are suitable for human use. Such measures will ensure that people are not evacuated from stressful conditions to other condition that contains another form of stress.
The public health personnel should inspect the damage caused by the disaster and come up with a detailed report concerning the number of deaths that arise as result of the disaster. They should also establish the injuries sustained and those are still missing in order to advice the rescuing team. Lastly, the public health personnel should inspect all the restaurants, their employees and finally the overall hygiene standards of such restaurants.
The chain of command used in this simulation is very simple and well selected to ensure that the information flows from one unit to the next without any delays. A well-organized chain of command ensures that the rescue work flows well without any interference as each manager understands his or her responsibilities. The chain of command starts from Incident Command who is in charge of the whole team, each department should report to him or her. Under him is the Public Information Officer who is in charge of ensuring that the correct health information is disseminated to the public at the right time. He or she ensures that the public health personnel and other rescuing agents are well informed regarding rescuing progress. In the same line with the Public Informational Officer is the Liaison Officer who acts as a point of support by assisting the rescuing agents in answering their questions and giving brief information of the rescue progress when necessary. He or she interlinks the rescuing team with other departments (University of Minnesota, 2011).
Below the Liaison Officer is the Operational Officer. A Liaison officer is responsible for developing and implementing various strategies and tactics to help in rescuing and evacuating the victims. He or she organizes, assigns and monitors or supervises the field resources used by the rescuing team. The next in line is the Planning Officer. He or she is in charge of the planning process and mobilizes an action plan to be taken. The other person in management chain is the Logical Officer. He or she is responsible for ensuring that all that is needed is in order for the job to be done. He or she ensures that equipment, space and any other necessary supplies that will increase the rescue efforts is provided at the right time. The last in chain is the Financial/ Administrative Officer who ensures that financial resources are available and well used.
There are a number of resources that can be used by the public nurses to perform the duties of rescuing communities at risk and ensuring that the population is out of any danger that could be caused by the disaster. The public health community should make sure that they liaise with various agents to assist them in delivering the services to the community at a satisfactory level. This agent may include the Mental Health Department which will assist in giving guidance and counseling to victims who have the sign of stress and are suffering from the aftershock caused by the disaster. They should also work hand in hand with Environmental Specialists in order to give guidance and procedures that should be used when cleaning the affected areas. Also, the public health nurses should work together with Environmental Specialist in assessing areas affected by chemicals and take the necessary measures to avoid further damages to the environment and people living around the affected areas (University of Minnesota, 2011).
Another resourceful agent that the public health officer should use when dealing with disaster is the Police Department. The Police Department will assist in maintaining order and restricting people from moving to prohibited areas where there might be spilled chemicals. The Police Department will also assist in evacuating stranded people to safer places. The last resourceful agent that the public health personnel should make use of is the media. This will assist in preventing the spread of rumors regarding aftermath of the disaster. On the other hand, it will assist in calming down the population in large, as it will assure them that the public health personnel in conjunction with other rescuing agents are in the position of safely evacuating them.
The public health nurses have to take immediate action depending on the response given by the victims visited. One of the actions taken by the nurses is to advice the victims on how to keep themselves safe and avoid any danger that may be caused as a result of the disaster. The nurses should compile a report and send it immediately to the Emergency Operation Center so that the necessary actions can be taken. In case he or she comes across victims whose health condition is not fit. They should examine the patient and offer the necessary advice to the patient. If the victim’s condition is out of his of her ability to handle due to lack of necessary medical facilities, he or she should arrange for immediate evacuation by calling the Emergency Operation Center giving the detailed account of the patient and the immediate action needed to be taken.
The nurses should advice the owners of the houses on the right procedures to be followed when cleaning up the apartment. They should assess the situation and recommend specialists where need be in order to assist in the cleaning process with the necessary equipment that can be used in cleaning without causing any harm or damage to the environment.
The public health nurse plays a major role in assisting people affected by the disaster to cope with the situation in various ways. One, they ensure that all people interviewed are given the right advice concerning their current situation. Secondly, those in need of medical attention are referred to the right personnel or the specialist is sent to assist in examining them and giving them the correct treatment.
Thirdly, those in need of assistance in cleaning up their houses are given advice on how to go about with the cleaning process. In cases where there is chemical contamination, environmental specialists are sent to advice on the best cleaning procedures (Vogt, and Kulbok, 2008). Fourthly, those in need of specific supplies such as food, water and other house commodities are linked with the right department which supplies them with the necessities to assist them in continuing with their lives normally until the situation is fully settled. Fifthly, those whose houses are fully destroyed are linked with the right departments which are supposed to assist them in rebuilding their houses.
In order to calm the fears, the public health personnel should ensure that they give the correct response to the question asked by the people. They should ensure that they do not give uncertain answers. Uncertain answers increase fear as they neither address the situation nor give solutions. They should be brief and direct to the point (Vogt, and Kulbok, 2008). They should ensure that they link the interviewed persons with the right personnel who can offer the needed support and advice to the interviewed person. They should record all details regarding person interviewed such as house number, the street, number of people stranded in the compound, what the family needs in order to keep them surviving and any other necessary information. This will enable the person interviewed to feel that all his or her needs are being catered for and thus, he or she has nothing to worry about.
The public health personnel needs to be well trained in various fields such as communication skills in order to be able to disseminate and convey the information to the victims and the public in general without creating panic, fear or uncertainty. The public health department should organize training in order to educate the nurses on how to use the Emergency Communication System in case the cell and land line controlling towers are not functioning. Still under communication skills they need to be trained on how to use sign language to enable them communicate with people speaking different languages from theirs and overcome all form of language barriers.
Another area they need to be trained on is in the management skills as they need to integrate various departments in order to achieve their motives of saving life. Therefore, they should be well trained on management skills and leadership skills (Williams, Nocera and Casteel, 2008).
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In the text, the author discusses the role of public health personnel in disaster management. They are responsible for ensuring that the population is fed with the right information, providing food and safe drinking water to the victims, and ensuring that food products delivered to the victims are safe for human consumption. They also issue directions on how the food in refrigerators and stores can be used and stored safely to avoid contamination. Public health personnel are also supposed to issue press briefs to explain how the situation is and.