Journal of Emergency Management最新文献

Background: The use of mass media is recommended to improve public awareness of first aid and enhance the motivation of laypeople to provide life-saving help. This study aimed to investigate practices of reporting incidents of foreign body airway obstruction (FBAO) in online news media, particularly in terms of whether and how information concerning first aid is presented.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study that analyzed the content of news articles published within a 2-year timeframe, which reported cases of fatal FBAO that happened in India and the United Kingdom (UK).

Results: The search revealed 47 articles for India and 82 for the UK, including publications by top news brands like BBC News and India Today. The articles reported 18 and 45 unique cases of FBAO, respectively. Only 21.3 percent (n = 47) of articles for India and 1.2 percent (1) for the UK touched upon the relevance of first aid; 0.0 percent (0) and 2.4 percent (2), respectively, addressed the importance of first aid training; 19.1 percent (9) and 2.4 percent (2), respectively, contained some instructions on first aid. The instructions for the most part omitted relevant techniques of first aid, provided insufficient details on how to perform the assistance, and occasionally contained false or misleading information.

Conclusions: Inappropriate presentation of information on first aid by online news media, including top national news brands, represents a lost opportunity to massively enhance public awareness, knowledge, and perceptions concerning first aid. The development of international guidelines on reporting first aid in mass media is advisable.

This study examined the relationship between family-work role conflict and work self-efficacy among Israeli mothers during the Swords of Iron War emergency, focusing on coping resources such as optimism and conflict management strategies. The participants included 182 working mothers of young children experiencing heightened stress due to the ongoing war. Of the three examined coping strategies, routine maintenance was most prevalent, followed by reorganization of work and family roles, and seeking help from the environment. Routine maintenance was the only strategy directly related to work self-efficacy. Optimism contributed indirectly to work self-efficacy through routine maintenance. It is concluded that maintaining a routine is crucial for coping with role conflict during community emergencies, as it enhances work self-efficacy both directly and indirectly by fostering optimism. Practical recommendations include training women in adopting routine strategies, fostering optimism, and emphasizing the importance of maintaining routine during prolonged periods of community stress.

NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue Hospital (Bellevue) conducts quarterly drills to test the readiness and preparedness of its special pathogen program. As a Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Center, Bellevue maintains a state of readiness to respond to patients infected with highly infectious pathogens. On March 29, 2024, Bellevue conducted a no-notice drill to simulate the arrival of a pediatric patient suspected of a viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF). Notification of the special pathogens unit (SPU) activation for a suspected VHF patient was communicated to Bellevue supervisors and leadership. Once responders arrived at their respective reporting stations, they were informed that this was a drill and instructed to read through their role-specific Roles & Responsibilities sheet. All respondents reported to assume their role in the SPU activation within the expected time frame. The cost savings of running this drill, as opposed to a full unit activation, was estimated to be nearly USD 2,000. Following the exercise, participants were offered to complete an anonymous survey assessing their perceptions of the drill and readiness for SPU activation. Key findings were that while most staff felt adequately prepared and understood their roles and responsibilities, suggestions for improvement included more frequent training sessions. This study underscores the importance of regular preparedness exercises to maintain SPU readiness. Insights gained from this drill can inform future training models, enhance the effectiveness of communication strategies during real-world activations, and can be replicated to improve the special pathogen preparedness of healthcare institutions across the United States, regardless of resource availability.

Background: When a disaster strikes, great damage may occur to the community and infrastructure in addition to injuries and loss of life. Hospitals are among the community centers that face great challenges during or after disas-ters. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to evaluate the West Bank's Palestinian government hospitals' emergency preparedness plan.

Methods: A mixed-methods approach was applied at Palestinian government hospitals in the West Bank. The study targeted all healthcare providers and administrative personnel in the respective hospitals.

Results: A total of 298 participants responded to the study. The respondents included physicians (17.8 percent), nurses (45.3 percent), administrators (14.4 percent), and 22.5 percent from other categories. The analysis of variance test showed a significant impact on safety and security, availability of emergency management plans, readiness and training, emergency management disaster preparedness committee, communication, and warning and notification on disaster preparedness plans among West Bank government hospitals.

Conclusions: The degree of practice for safety and security measures by West Bank hospitals was high; the emergency management plan was a medium degree; the readiness and training of workers were at a medium degree; the disaster preparedness and emergency management committee was also at a medium degree; and finally, the de-gree of commitment of West Bank hospitals to communication procedures, warning, and notification in preparedness for disasters was medium.

Evidence shows that responses to health crises often worsen existing disparities. As the approval of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccine for people 12 years and older became imminent in the spring of 2021, our institution sought to meet the urgent need to vaccinate the young people in our community facing inequities in pandemic response. In this report, we describe our institution's approach to responding to a rapidly emerging public health need and how we continue to leverage this framework to respond equitably to subsequent local health crises. We recognized that groups of children who had been most impacted by the detrimental effects of the pandemic would also face significant barriers to accessing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines. To identify this at-risk cohort, we partnered with our public health department and the school district to use data to identify the zone improvement plan (ZIP) codes with the lowest adult SARS-CoV-2 vaccination rates, schools most often closed due to COVID-19 outbreaks, and schools with the highest percentage of students undervaccinated against routine childhood diseases. We then partnered with our local school district and community organizations who were similarly committed to serving the children of our community (including museums, faith centers, and the zoo, among others), to develop and promote 50 COVID-19 vaccine clinic locations that were positioned to maximize access for populations of children at greatest need. Through these efforts, we administered 10,792 vaccinations to 6,981 unique patients. Of these, 8,503 were in Philadelphia with over one-third (37 percent) of vaccines given to people from our target ZIP codes, and non-White individuals represented 73 percent of the vaccine recipients. Key lessons included utilizing available data to select where care delivery sites would be positioned, integrating with other responding organizations to coordinate efforts and avoid overlap, providing care to the whole family (not just children) when able, and developing a robust monitoring structure with iterative change to maximize impact for our target populations. Key challenges included navigating the balance between low attendance clinics in high-risk areas or areas that were difficult to access while striving to be resource-efficient and maximize our impact on vulnerable populations. In conclusion, recognition of the potential for disaster response to worsen existing disparities in healthcare should lead managers to include a specific focus on equity in their planning. Our experience demonstrates that coordinated, intentional response can successfully minimize disaster impact on our most vulnerable populations.

Background: Psychosocial crisis management interventions do not sufficiently consider visually impaired and deaf individuals. There are difficulties in accessing the available interventions, and the effectiveness of these interventions seems questionable. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities build on the premises of the inclusive participation in psychosocial intervention after disasters.

Objective: The objective of this study is to provide recommendations for psychosocial intervention for sensory-impaired individuals after disasters and to raise awareness for professionals working in the field of psychotraumatology.

Methods: A qualitative analysis of semistructured expert interviews and focus groups with professionals in psychotraumatology and sensory-impaired individuals was conducted. This research took place within the European Network for Psychosocial Crisis Management: Assisting Disabled in Case of Disaster (EUNAD), which is funded by the European Commission.

Results: There is a need for specific knowledge about how to meet the needs of individuals with sensory loss in order to provide psychosocial crisis management after a disaster. This aspect is not included in the existing psychosocial interventions.

Conclusion: The EUNAD recommendations are a start to fulfill the obligation to include sensory-impaired individuals in preparations for disaster interventions.

The Robert T. Stafford Act unintentionally marginalizes Alaska's Tribes and hinders their ability to exercise sovereignty following disasters. Although there has been significant academic analysis of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act since its passage in 1971, the monumental agreement that settled Alaska Native aboriginal land claims was not critically considered during the creation of the Stafford Act, nearly two decades later in 1988. The consequences have resulted in increased confusion and controversy as Alaska's Tribes attempt to exercise their sovereign option following emergencies and disasters. This paper is a summary of extensive research that explored the government-to-government relationship between Alaska's Tribes and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). It is intended to illuminate statutory and programmatic shortcomings emanating from the Stafford Act when applied to Alaska Natives, their tribal governments, and the greater Alaska Native Community. Effects of these shortcomings include, but are not limited to, the inability of most Alaska Tribes to sustain participation in certain FEMA disaster programs; undetermined impacts on local health and community well-being; and an overarching sentiment of abandonment during times of greatest need. Parallels can also be drawn to other United States (US) Tribes, Indigenous US islands, and circumpolar communities. This paper will assist the reader in recognizing the unique governing structures found throughout Alaska and the negative impacts of the Stafford Act on Indigenous self-determination and sovereignty in the face of increasing disasters and a changing climate.

Over a quarter of adults in the United States live with a disability, increasing their risk for severe outcomes from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Additionally, people with disabilities face continuous barriers in accessing COVID-19 vaccinations. Disabilityled organizations are catalytic partners for public health departments to reach and provide services to and build partnerships with people with disabilities. For this reason, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Foundation funded three disabilityled organizations, two nationally focused and one locally focused, to partner with state and local public health agencies to identify and address barriers to COVID-19 vaccination and emergency response planning in their communities. These partners identified key strategies for inclusion in emergency response and vaccination planning, including creating accessible materials and messaging, ensuring the accessibility of vaccination sites, and addressing the historical mistrust between people with disabilities and health systems. Through this funding, 59 partnerships between disabilityled organizations and disability or public health partners were formed with 26 memorandums of understanding being executed. This project provides actionable recommendations and illustrates that disabilityled organizations are key public health partners in planning for and implementing strategies that benefit people with disabilities and the community more broadly.

Trauma-informed practice in emergency management can aid professionals in addressing inequity and building trusting relationships with vulnerable and marginalized communities. As the field of emergency management begins to utilize principles of trauma-informed practice used by adjacent fields, it is useful to explore the benefits of cultivating a strong and positive psychological sense of community (PSOC) with engaged community partners, particularly those who have past experience with structural or systemic inequity, prejudice, and/or discrimination. Crafting trauma-informed policies and activities at every point in the emergency management cycle, practiced in active collaboration with community members, will help build a trusted community connection that can lead to smoother response and recovery efforts with communities that have historically struggled with equitable access. This paper reviews the elements of a strong, positive PSOC and principles of trauma-informed practice as they can be applied by emergency managers. These principles can further be applied to internal agency policies to support emergency managers who may themselves also experience trauma or burnout in the course of their careers.

The National Risk Index (NRI) was created by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 2021 to quantify county-level natural hazard risk. The NRI is presented as a percentile score from 0 to 100 and is calculated based on three components: (1) expected annual loss (EAL), the average economic loss resulting from natural hazards; (2) Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), the susceptibility of local population groups to the adverse impacts of natural hazards; and (3) community resilience, the local community's ability to prepare for and respond to natural hazards. We hypothe-sized that the EAL component unintentionally obscures rural versus urban differences in natural hazard vulnerability and preparedness. We tested our hypothesis using publicly available NRI data for all rural (nonmetropolitan) and urban (metropolitan) counties in the United States. We found that the population-weighted average rural county had an NRI risk score equal to 54.9 (89.1 for urban counties). Follow-up analyses suggested that differing NRI scores between rural and urban counties were driven by greater EAL in urban areas (USD 12 M and USD 347 M EAL for the population-weighted average rural county and urban county, respectively). In contrast, SVI was the strongest predictor in linear regression models of county-level premature mortality rate and years of life lost (p < .001 in both models). We conclude that the NRI primarily communicates the potential economic loss of counties due to natural disasters and under-estimates public health-related vulnerability and resilience. Community planners unaware of this finding may mistakenly overlook the needs of rural communities, leaving rural residents unnecessarily vulnerable to natural disasters. This imbalance could also lead to inequitable distribution of disaster planning resources across rural and urban counties, particularly if policymakers and individuals in charge of emergency preparedness rely on the NRI to identify areas at greatest risk.