Week 6 DQ 2
Disaster Preparedness (graded)
Visit the website http://www.ready.gov . Review the steps for being prepared for a disaster. As a
community
... [Show More] health nurse, what elements do you think are important to stress to the community? How is
your community preparing for a potential disaster, or how has it prepared?
Respond
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(an instructor response)
Collapse Mark as Unread Disaster Preparedness Instructor Hamilton Email this Author
2/18/2015 8:55:50 PM
Hello Class,
The Centers for Disease and Prevention (CDC) website provides excellent information through their own
Be Prepared web page for the National Preparedness Month every September and it’s a great resource
to share as we are focusing on Disaster Preparedness in this discussion. Post 9/11 the state health
department had the county health departments develop Homeland Security Bioterrorism task forces to
educate the community on how to prepare for a natural or other disaster. Health Departments
developed teams of staff and invited key stakeholders from the community level to participate. One of
the criteria to memberships was to demonstrate that each staff/stakeholder had a personal plan so when
called to duty there were no worries about personal issues….now ask yourself do you have a plan…is this
a sound plan and what needs to be part of the plan…here is a web site for your to answer some of those
questions and prepare. Please share your thoughts and what you found on the site, see you in class!~Dr
Hamilton
Link - http://www.cdc.gov/Features/BeReady/
Class: You may begin posting in this TD on Sunday, April 5, 2015 for credit.
Respond
Collapse Mark as Unread RE: Disaster Preparedness Arthel Tamakloe Email this
Author 4/9/2015 9:21:39 PM
Planning for natural disaster ensures that resources are available and that roles and responsibilities of all
personnel and agencies are delineated. (p.568). As nurses we must be ready and be prepared for any
emergencies. So monthly disaster drills can be conduct to prepare us for disasters. Monthly disaster
drills will help us to know the organizational plan and to stay informed during the disaster. As nurses
when we are properly trained, this helps us to ensure that in any type of disaster, we will have organized
and effective medical care. As a community health nurse we can also educate the community and our
patients how to prepare for natural disaster by conducting drills with them as well.
Nies, M. A., & McEwen, M. (2011). Community/Public health nursing: Promoting the health of
populations (5th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Saunders/Elsevier.
Respond Edit
(an instructor response)
Collapse Mark as Read RE: Disaster Preparedness Instructor Hamilton Email this Author
4/10/2015 8:55:00 PM
Thanks for the post Arthel. There were tornadoes last night and this took 2 lives and 70 homes. The
governor is involved and many online cites are collecting money for the victims. I am hoping they are
monitoring the legitimacy of the cites.~Dr Hamilton
Respond
Collapse Mark as Unread Disaster Prep Jessica Parker Email this Author 4/5/2015
9:28:34 AM
Instructor Hamilton & Class:
The most important step for being prepared for disaster is to have a plan of what to do. Knowing
what to do in a disaster will help prevent chaos and provide for quicker recovery - "more lives can be
saved and less property is damaged" (Nies & McEwen, p. 567). Our community needs to be educated on
potential disasters (risks for tornadoes are high in the spring in our area). Families need to be prepared
and have a plan of how to find each other if they were to be separated (FEMA, n.d.) and to practice with
children. School nurses & teachers help children prepare & practice in case of disaster or possible
shooting at the local schools. Our community uses a tornado siren & tests it weekly to help alert
members of the community. Our smartphones now have alerts that alarm when there is an emergency
in the area - flooding, amber alert, storm warnings.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.fema.gov/medialibrary/assets/documents/34330
Chamberlain College of Nursing. (2015). NR-443 Week 6: Environmental Health [Online lesson]. Downers
Grove, IL: DeVry Education Group.
Nies, M. A., & McEwen, M. (2011). Community/Public health nursing: Promoting the health of
populations (5th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Saunders/Elsevier.
Respond
(an instructor response)
Collapse Mark as Read RE: Disaster Prep Instructor Hamilton Email this Author
4/6/2015 6:15:42 PM
Jessica
community members who do not listen or heed warnings create many more issues for the rescuer and
pull them away from the tasks at hand....rescuer agencies in the west during the fires were informing
people they could face fines and arrest if not mandatory evacuating and there was no guarantee when if
they survived the rescuers would be back. The belief "it cannot happen to me" or "I can handle this" is
denial...we watch a gentleman on his roof with a garden hose as the hillside was on fire and coming
rapidly...a garden hose was not the answer...materials are replaceable, life is not. Great post~Dr
Hamilton
Respond
Collapse Mark as Unread RE: Disaster Prep Rachel Foreman Email this Author
4/6/2015 6:41:40 PM
Jessica, class, and Professor Hamilton.
Thank you for your post, I enjoyed reading it. This shows how every community is different. In so many
ways we can relate to the next community but everyone has their own issues. Living in Florida we do
have to be prepared for not only tornados but also hurricanes, flooding, and fires. Luckily we don't have
to add earthquakes to that list!
Rachel
Respond
Collapse Mark as Read RE: Disaster Prep Pamela Mintz Email this Author 4/6/2015
7:02:21 PM
Rachel - Do you have to add sinkholes to that list now?! You always hear about the "usuals", like fires,
tornadoes, hurricanes, and flooding, but I remember not too long ago reading about sinkholes in the
state of Florida. I remember the one where they could not find the brother that was living inside the
house when it sunk. The pictures were incredible from there - I had never seen anything like it before
that incident. But I do remember hearing about them more frequently since that major one. All these
natural disasters are scary! And I say this as I am married to the guy that goes running INTO burning
buildings, instead of running out of them!
Pam
Respond
(an instructor response)
Collapse Mark as Read RE: Disaster Prep Instructor Hamilton Email this Author
4/7/2015 12:28:29 PM
Pam that is interesting! I saw a huge one from Kentucky I believe which swallowed a corvette
business...any area which is undermined has this potential and this also is available on the local websites
for environmental facts as this affects insurance rates and building permits.~Dr Hamilton
Respond
Collapse Mark as Read RE: Disaster Prep Jeremy Langley Email this Author
4/9/2015 6:49:23 PM
Pam, Dr. Hamilton, and Class,
Great point about sink holes. My father is an environmental engineer and he has told me that another
reason these sink holes occur is the type of soil that is under the home's foundation. They are now
performing soil test in some areas to make sure the soil can withstand the weight of a house although
there is no guarantee. The loose sandy soil under a thin layer of hard soil is a factor so the soil samples
have to be tested at a certain depth.
I also wanted to add that major snow and ice storms can be consider a disaster. I live in Georgia and we
had one of the largest snow and ice storms in history just last year and thousands of motorist were
stranded for 20 plus hours on the interstate because the thy could not make it home and several ran out
of gas or just pulled over. The delay by the state and city officials in getting the much needed weather
information out to the public was a main cause of this. There were numerous changes made I how we
plan and implement. Many people now carry emergency kit in their car where they did not before this.
They even started calling it "snowmageddan 2014" and the state officials and public are now more
educated on the need for emergency planning and getting the weather information out quickly and in a
standardized way. Several days after the ice storms, hundreds of cars were still sitting in the median of all
our major interstates and it looked like scene out of a movie where everyone just vanished. [Show Less]