Disaster Response Resources: The American Red Cross Term Paper

American Red Cross

Within the American Red Cross structure, Cincinnati is supported by the Central and Southern Ohio Region branch. The unity it total serves 47 counties of Ohio, Northern Kentucky, Southeast Indiana, thus, helping nearly six million people (American Red Cross, 2021). The activities of the American Red Cross are focused on providing feed, shelter, and care to victims of disasters. Particularly, this also includes mental health assistance and emotional support. Therefore, nurses and volunteers have to be appropriately trained to be able to handle crisis situations.

To ensure an effective disaster response, the American Red Cross utilizes several essential tools. The process of recruitment and training is organized based on the nursing network, which promotes leadership and collaboration among high-ranked professionals. Moreover, the Red Cross provides education programs, including the ones related to mental health, to healthcare organizations (American Red Cross, 2021). The Central and Southern Ohio Region branch holds both offline and virtual classes aimed to boost preparedness for mental crisis and other effects of a disaster.

Local and National Community Resources

On a national level, there is SAMHSA, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The organization provides utilized tools for communicating helpful information on disaster behavioral health care, such as e-magazine, tip sheets, and literature archives (SAMSHA, 2021). On a local level, there is a program held by the Ohio administration and is expected to combat mental health crisis by training police officers and paramedics on psychological assistance (Jewell, 2021). Thus, national and local sources address citizens’ meant health.

8 Core Actions for Psychological First Aid

There are eight core actions that constitute psychological first aid. Further, they will be listed and describe practical examples (NCTSN, 2018).

1. Contact and Engagement. At this step, a caregiver is expected to respond to survivors’ requests or initiate contact with people in a compassionate and no-intrusive form. For example, a victim of a natural disaster may be asked by a volunteer or a nurse directly whether they need emotional support or using suggestive questions.
2. Safety and Comfort. A victim should be provided with emotional comfort and a feeling of security. This can be ensured by keeping calm and being companionate.
3. Stabilization (when needed). Sometimes a situation might be overwhelming, thus, making a person extremely anxious and stressed. In those cases, it is needed to calm a victim and orient them in the external and internal distractions.
4. Information Gathering on Current Needs and Concerns. For further assistance, it is necessary to collect certain essential information regarding the needs and concerns of a person who suffered a mental health crisis. For example, a caregiver may ask if the victim wants to tell how they feel or rather be actively calmed.
5. Practical Assistance. At this stage, victims are offered practical help in overcoming their concerns. A volunteer could ask if a person feels a need to get any more profound psychological therapy.
6. Connection with Social Supports. Once the first contact so well established, a caregiver can reach other sources of potential emotional support for a victim. For instance, it is most common to call family or friends or other psychological support groups.
7. Information on Coping. A caregiver would want to consult on how it is better to deal with a victim’s issues using specific concepts and tools – this could be done verbally and in written form. For example, meditation, or in some cases, medicine, can be recommended.
8. Linkage with Collaborative Services. Finally, a caregiver is expected to connect to share support services contacts. Thus, if a victim finds it necessary, they will contact those services and get professional help.

References

American Red Cross. (2021). Central & Southern Ohio Region. Web.

Jewell, T. (2021). Ohio city rolls out a pilot program to tackle mental health crisis intervention. EMS1. Web.

NCTSN. (2018). About PFA. The National Child Traumatic Stress Network. Web.

SAMHSA. (2021). Disaster Behavioral Health Resources. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Web.