Offering help and support during and after emergencies is essential to the individuals who are affected. Many citizens did not trust the state again after the cyclone of Katrina hit Louisiana. The news reports showed the suffering of the citizens in the Superdome, others were recovered from the top of houses after the explosion of as a result of the storm surge. The FEMA was becoming the citizens’ enemy particularly on the methods they used to report the news. The state should realize the mistakes they did during the disaster and devise ways in which they should make improvements.
In October 2012, the hurricane on Sandy occurred which was the first category hurricane and destroyed the eastern part of the seaside (Byrne, 2013). According to Byrne (2013), the government learned from the Katrina hurricane and had to declare a state of emergency. The countries that were affected include New York, Washington, North Carolina along with Maryland. The state of Maine declared a limited state which would facilitate other governments as well as Canada to assist them with power issues that may occur as a result of the hurricane in Sandy (CNN, 2016).
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According to Byrne (2013), FEMA does not respond quickly to emergencies but collaborates with local and government officials who respond to emergencies in time. The hurricane of Sandy experienced logistical issues. Most parts of New York required temporary houses, but the state has no mobile dwellings. FEMA uses portable dwellings for temporary housing. The agency incorporated the temporary sheltering assistance schedule to drive the citizens away from their homes to hotels. The other issue was power with over two million individuals with no power. The NPRTF (National Power Restoration Task Force) is a program that focuses on restoring the ability of people and motivates who need it (Byrne, 2013).
According to the spokesman of the New York University, ConEd put off their power and generators which were functional, and this contributed to the damage of the disaster. The Langone Medical Center had to transfer patients to the neighboring hospitals (Sifferlin, 2012). The reports indicated that the NYU basement had flooded to ten to twelve feet of water. There were problems in transferring the patients to other hospitals because of the floods. The groups that took part in moving the patients were healthcare professionals and firefighters. The deputy of the vice-president for public issues, Jim Mandler claimed that all health command points work with the central command center in the city. The health centers in New York collaborated with the Great New York medical center and the OEM (Office of Emergency Management) (Sifferlin, 2012). There were improvements in the Sandy hurricane as a result of all the health centers collaborating to improve the health services.
The hurricane at Katrina was a political and natural disaster. The reason for the citizens being trapped in New Orleans after the failure of the levees was as a result of the slow response from Governor Blanco. The Mayor of New Orleans suffered a loss due to the gradual rescue of the federal state (Pao, 2015). The citizens perceive that the reason for the slow relief was due to the population issues in the country. The neighboring poor blacks were the victims of the (Dreier, 2006). Other people believe that President Bush planned the hurricane along with his administration because they made presumptions that citizens could settle in New Orleans (Dreier, 2006). Concerning the political perspective, the reason for the slow response is linked to the Mayor of New Orleans, Governor Blanco and the head of state.
There are three steps that an individual must follow to get help from FEMA which include;
A person must confirm registration with FEMA. The
A person should undergo an inspection from FEMA contractors
A person must follow up with FEMA
(Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA], 2014).
The PPE can consist of latex gloves, suits that have inhalers and security goggles concerning bioterrorism. Firstly, the first rescuers of an attack may not know about using inhaler suits. Another problem is that the lawsuits may be inadequate and few people will survive. The other challenge is that the suits can rip in case they catch any debris (Jackson, Rand Corporation, & National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 2002, p. 21).
The immediate rescuers should be trained in using the suits. The best method of delivering the training is to use mock drills that will facilitate the learning of utilizing the equipment. The rescuers should receive training on the ways of handling the suits to prevent contagions.
At times an extra person is needed in case of emergencies. In fact, there was an outbreak of Ebola in the United States, the fear of the other agencies can be contacting or spreading the disease to their family members. Ebola is a contagious disease and can affect the immediate respondents because they have a direct encounter with the affected individuals.
The agencies should use the PPE that “Doctors without Borders” use which will reduce their fears in helping patients during a crisis. In 2014, the organization had over 3,300 employees who worked with Ebola clients, but 23 had been infected, and 13 died. The populations of the medical staff that killed and infected with Ebola were below one percent, but all of them are given PPE (Doctors without Borders, 2014). There are no methods of reducing fear among the medical employees.
Below is an illustration of “Doctors without Borders” carrying a child who had Ebola (Doctors without Borders, 2017)
The healthcare centers, immediate rescuers, and medical professionals should practice drills regularly. The JCAHO (Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations) accredited health centers that:
Examine their emergency activities strategies two times per year to respond to real disasters or planned operations.
Organizations that give emergency facilities or community-based emergency centers that carry out the exercise once a year which includes the influx of real or fictitious patients.
The organization should have one exercise in a year to examine its effectiveness and the instances they have to receive support from the society.
The organizations must play a part in the EMP (emergency management program) where they must take part in at least one exercise in the community (The Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), n.d.).
The healthcare centers should have more than four drills annually. The exercises should be done inside and outside the organizations. The hospitals should incorporate the drills after they succeed in the approval process or once some items have been added to design the strategy. The countries that encounter hurricanes and tornados should implement the drills before the seasons start. Each cyclone has its severity and hospitals should be prepared in case they have to migrate. The health centers should make preparations for other emergencies including fire and missing of a young child in the nursing department. The hospital should have chemical, patient activity, and biological treatment plans to mitigate the risks associated with the emergencies. The strategies should be addressed to the medical employees and stakeholders to make sure they are successfully implemented (The Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), n.d.).
The hospitals should implement unknown drills because it will pressurize the employees and the administrators to know the areas they should make improvements. In case the administrators need to create new plans, or they see the staff is ready, they can initiate the unknown drills. The incorporation of the unidentified exercises will assist in examining the interactions of medical staff and the intervening agencies during an emergency (The Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), n.d.).
In conclusion, offering support to patients who have been affected by emergencies is very important. The patients require the assistance during and after the disaster. The local and state officials should make plans that will protect people from the severe disasters. The country should be prepared for seasonal disasters to reduce the death and the infections among the citizens. The governors and mayors are responsible for intervening in the attacks. The immediate responders of the training should receive training on handling and use PPE. The fear of the staff cannot be eliminated unless they go through counseling. The hospitals should implement drills before the seasons of hurricanes and tornados happen.
References
Byrne, M. (2013, March 12). Sandy Response in New York Shows How FEMA has changed. Retrieved from http://www.govtech.com/em/disaster/Sandy-Response-Shows-How-FEMA-has-Changed.html
CNN. (2016, November 2). Hurricane Sandy Fast Facts - CNN.com. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/13/world/americas/hurricane-sandy-fast-facts/index.html
Doctors without Borders. (2014, October 27). Q & A on MSF’s Ebola Response and Protocols | MSF USA. Retrieved from http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/article/q-msf%E2%80%99s-ebola-response-and-protocols
Doctors without Borders. (2017, May 12). Ebola | MSF USA. Retrieved from http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/our-work/medical-issues/ebola
Dreier, P. (2006). Katrina: A political disaster. Retrieved from http://nhi.org/online/issues/145/politicaldisaster.html
Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA]. (2014, May 20). Three-Step Process to FEMA Disaster Assistance | FEMA.gov. Retrieved from https://www.fema.gov/news-release/2014/05/20/three-step-process-fema-disaster-assistance
Jackson, B. A., Rand Corporation, & National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. (2002). Performance and Availability of Personal Protective Equipment. In Protecting emergency responders: Lessons learned from terrorist attacks (pp. 21-35). Retrieved from https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/conf_proceedings/2006/CF176.pdf
The Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). (n.d.). JCAHO Compliance / JCAHO Emergency Management Standards: Response Systems. Retrieved from http://www.disasterpreparation.net/resources.html
Pao, M. (2015, August 25). Swept up in the storm: Hurricane Katrina's key players, Then and now: NPR. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/2015/08/27/434385285/swept-up-in-the-storm-hurricane-katrinas-key-players-then-and-now
Sifferlin, A. (2012, October 30). Lessons from Storm Sandy: When Hospital Generators Fail | TIME.com. Retrieved from http://healthland.time.com/2012/10/30/lessons-from-storm-sandy-when-hospital-generators-fail/
