PHN 600-Topic 8 – Classmate Response (2) -Lesli Topic 8 DQ 1- Please provide feedback to the classmate’s post

QUESTION TOPIC 8 DQ 1- Discuss your topic you chose for your presentation in this topic. Discuss why you chose the topic and the impact it has on public health nursing. Provide feedback to your classmates to assist in the development of the presentation in this topic.

Classmate Response (2) -Lesli-Topic 8 DQ 1

I chose Hurricane Harvey for my presentation. I chose this topic because hurricanes have a long history of devastating the Gulf Coast. I also chose this topic because I believe improvement is always just on the horizon.We can learn from mistakes and review processes to make responses more efficient. Public health nurses can analyze how past catastrophes have been mitigated and improve future responses. Public nurses have been instrumental in all phases of hurricane disasters since Clara Barton and The Red Cross arrived in Texas during the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 (Truglio-Londrigan & Lewenson, 2018).

Hurricane Harvey dropped 40- 60 inches of rain in the Houston area (Banerjee et al., 2018). In 2018 Hurricane Harvey was the most costly hurricane to hit the United States mainland to date (Banerjee et al., 2018). This hurricane had an estimated sum of 180 billion dollars (Banerjee et al., 2018). Unprecedented levels of flooding were seen throughout the Gulf Coast (Banerjee et al., 2018). An exacerbating issue was that areas not designated by FEMA as being flood zones also saw unprecedented amounts of rainfall and flood waters(Banerjee et al., 2018).

Shelters set up by The Houston Health Department such as the George R. Brown Convention Center (GRB), took in evacuees well beyond capacity. The GRB housed 12000 evacuees(Banerjee et al., 2018). This is twice the normal occupancy expectation (Banerjee et al., 2018). In these shelters are where we saw volunteer nurses selflessly give of themselves(Banerjee et al., 2018). All the nurses working in these types of shelters became public health nurses regardless of their specialties. Nurse duties included assessing the medical needs of the evacuees, providing nursing care, setting up infection control precautions, and getting medical devices to evacuees (Banerjee et al., 2018). Public health nurses also provided screening and testing for health care needs and referrals (Banerjee et al., 2018).

The role of the public health nurse also includes working to actively reduce health care disparities. Although I could not be prouder of the response by volunteer healthcare professionals and private citizens that volunteered from all over the Unites States, disparities in preparedness were exacerbated throughout this disaster. Being prepared and having mitigation plans in effect are critical components of being able to save lives and property in the event of a disaster. We saw throughout the Texas Gulf Coast rural areas and communities with lower socioeconomic status did not have the resources to properly prepare and have life-saving plans in effect. Looking forward Public Health officials and State law-makers should have plans in place to reduce disparities that occurred in rural areas and to vulnerable populations.

References

Banerjee, D., Fletcher-Davies, T., Persse, D., J, Schulte, Yang, B., Bryant, W., Short, K., Jones, K., & Williams, S. (2018). Medical and nursing needs in a mass shelter after Hurricane Harvey. Texas Public Health Journal, 70(1), 12–14.

Truglio-Londrigan, M., & Lewenson, S. (2018). Public health nursing: Practicing population-based care (3rd ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.

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Solution

Classmate Response (2) -Lesli

I agree with you that public health nurses need to be more involved in disaster preparedness efforts. In the recent past, the US has witnessed numerous significant natural disasters and emergencies, including hurricane Harvey which significantly affected the gulf coast in 2017. Public health nurses are therefore considered integral to public health and the forefront of emergency preparedness and response. Disasters such as hurricanes pose significant public health threats such as disease outbreaks and the disruption of important infrastructure such as healthcare systems (Rafferty-Semon et al., 2017). Public health nurses should therefore come up with strategies that can help mitigate the effects of natural disasters such as hurricanes. Because nurses make up a significant proportion of healthcare professionals, their efforts to enhance disaster preparedness can have a significant impact on vulnerable communities, such as communities that live on the gulf coast that have consistently been exposed to the risk of hurricanes and other extreme weather events.

Public health nurses need to be more involved in local planning for emergencies and disasters. By acting as members of emergency management teams, public health nurses can help to bring together local resources that can help communities to be able to initiate and sustain their own local responses following a disaster (Rafferty-Semon et al., 2017). Public health nurses also possess core competencies that they can leverage to help mitigate the effects of natural disasters, such as analytical and assessment skills, communication skills, cultural competency, leadership skills, and program planning/policy development skills (Rafferty-Semon et al., 2017). By leveraging their various competencies, nurses can therefore lead the formation of emergency management teams in local communities that can play a significant role in raising the resilience of vulnerable communities to natural disasters.

References

Rafferty-Semon, P., Jarzembak, J., & Shanholtzer, J., (2017). “Simulating Complex Community

Disaster Preparedness: Collaboration for Point of Distribution” OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing Vol. 22, No. 1, Manuscript 3. https://doi.org/10.3912/OJIN.Vol22No01Man03