PHN 600-Topic 8 – Classmate Response (3) -Julia-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 (3) -Julia Topic 8 DQ 1

The topic I chose for our presentation is the Camp Fire in Butte County, California that took place in November of 2018. Wild fires have been a massive problem in California and in the West in general for a long time, but this was the deadliest fire we have ever experienced. The damage done and the number of fatalities were shocking. There were 85 casualties, including injuries to firefighters, and 18,804 structures were destroyed (Cal Fire, 2019). According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, the cause of the fire was electrical lines running through dry vegetation (2019). On top of this, strong winds, low humidity and warm temperatures caused the fire to spread rapidly and to burn at incredibly high temperatures (Cal Fire, 2019). I remember at the time hearing that the fire was burning so hot that the flames were able to jump across a local freeway.

While I do not live in Butte County, I live in one of the neighboring county that was asked for assistance during the Camp Fire emergency. I chose this topic for my presentation because I went to Butte County for a few days in the aftermath of the fires to assist with other public health nurses from my county. It absolutely amazed me the amount of smoke that was persistently in the air. There was no escaping it, and it went inside the buildings. My fellow nurses and I worked shifts at one of the shelters, but since I was on night shift, there was not much to do for the people staying there, at least not for their physical selves. Some of the residents had been through traumatic experiences, and had difficulty sleeping, naturally. This was the primary role I had as a public health nurse. The Red Cross and other medical professionals were present also. They had duties including assessing and caring for residents, as well as providing supplies and a sense of order during a chaotic time. One issue that arose at the shelter was a norovirus outbreak. There were not enough people to clean and maintain a quarantine for the infected individuals, and these were also public health duties.

Reference

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. (2019, May 15). Cal Fire investigators determine cause of the Camp Fire. https://www.fire.ca.gov/media/5121/campfire_cause.pdf

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Solution

Classmate Response (3) -Julia

As wildfires have continued to be a frequent natural disaster, especially in the state of California, there is a need for public health nurses to be more proactively involved in efforts to mitigate such disasters. The first role the public health nurses can play in addressing the common challenge of wildfires in California, which have significant health impacts on local communities, including developing improved preparedness. Public health departments in different regions across the U.S. are formulated around similar missions of preserving public health. However, different public health departments need to come up with varying strategic plans to meet the public health needs of local communities (Khan et al., 2018). For instance, in the state of California and other states that are at an increased risk of wildfires, such as Oregon, the public health departments and public health nurses need to formulate strategic plans to prevent the onset of wildfires. Public health nurses also need to lay out plans to prevent the general public from the negative health effects of wildfires, such as smoke and particulate matter that may result in respiratory diseases. Public health nurses in regions susceptible to wildfires need to develop policies and directions and assume the overall responsibility of ensuring that public health departments are adequately prepared to deal with wildfires. Public health nurses in states that are susceptible to wildfires also need to actively participate in reviewing, writing, updating, and exercising emergency response plans for their public health departments (Khan et al., 2018). Public health nurses should also seek to establish effective relationships with other stakeholders that are involved in emergency responses such as wildfires and come up with clear protocols and safety measures that can be implemented in the event of disaster occurrence (Khan et al., 2018).

References

Khan, Y., O’Sullivan, T., Brown, A., et al. (2018). Public health emergency preparedness: a

framework to promote resilience. BMC Public Health 18, 1344 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-6250-7