Role of major public health personnel
Public health personnel involved in the disaster have varied roles depending on their area of specialization and deployment. The public health inspectors are involved in inspection of food premises and of vendors to ensure that they are licensed and have a valid license to operate; they also inspect the sanitation and hygienic conditions of the food premises, nature and state of the food products being sold e.g. temperature. The director of public health heads this team. The public health environmental specialist took part in the assessment of damage on the environment caused by the sodium hydroxide, tornado and flooding. The public health personnel also took part in immunization activities; they assessed the need for tetanus vaccine and who should actually get the vaccine. They also ensured that the media was kept briefed on the situation hence public also kept informed (University of Minnesota, 2007). The public health nurse roles include community assessment and in this case this was demonstrated in the door to door campaign where PHN assessed the needs of the residents. During this door to door movement, they advised the residents on issues affecting their health that are related to the disaster and also on other issues that they are facing. Part of the assessment was on health needs, food needs. The public health nurse and the public health team participated in health education and health promotion activities. This was clear during the campaigns mobilize residents to boil water for at least five minutes before drinking or using it for domestic purposes. The residents were also educated on safety measures to take so that their health is not put at risk. The CHN also took part in the assessment of damage on roads, houses and environment as a result of the tornado, flooding and the chemical spill (University of Minnesota, 2007).
Chain of Command for community health nurse
The community health nurse works under the public health group that reports to the Medical/Health Branch director who reports to the Operations Chief (OP). The OC reports to the EOC commander.
Resources available to the community health nurse (CHN)
The CHN have several resources available at her disposal to be able to deal with situations outside her level of knowledge, skill, or authority. There was a telephone availed to her for purposes of communicating with other team members to ensure that they are informed on needs and services required that are outside scope of practice. A good example is when she calls the operations team to enquire on availability of shelter. There was also a referral system in which the CHN was able to refer all issues that she could not respond; some issues touched on security and safety, financial needs, the CHN could only refer the individuals to the relevant people. The CHN also had other members of the staff who helped her deal with issues not related to nursing. There were vehicles such as ambulance (not mentioned) as those who needed emergency medical care were transferred to hospital.
Measures taken during emergency encounters
The CHN sought the advice of other team members on what to do. In some instances, the CHN organized for evacuation of the residents to safer grounds/shelter. The nurse also organized for immediate transfer to hospital of those people who needed urgent medical attention. Although not mentioned, the nurse must have offered first aid services and attended to those who needed to be stabilized before transfer to hospital.
Actions to help people interviewed
During the door to door interview and assessment process, the CHN took actions to help people cope with situations after flooding. The CHN assessed the risk posed by the floods on the health and safety of the residents. In cases where the situation was not fit for human stay, the CHN organized for the transfer of the affected people to an area where they could get alternative shelter and those that needed medical care services were transferred to hospitals. The floods cut off transportation and even bridges were wiped off. This meant that there was no food and medicine supplies, the CHN nurse therefore ensured that these people got supplies through contacting the operations chief and the logistics chief who ensured that the supplies wee made available. The nurse also offered advisory services on how to boil water and maintain god sanitation and hygiene to prevent any outbreak of diseases. The CHN offered vital information after assessing conditions of the residential houses that were affected by the flood. Communication is very important in allaying anxiety and this is what the CHN did. This was done to allay anxiety and stress caused by the floods. The nurse gave the residents options so that they could choose what they thought was the best for them, the nurse did not decide for them.
Preparation of other nursing personnel
In order to ensure that other nursing personnel are fully prepared to respond to a similar emergency in which a much larger area is affected, the following have to be done: training on emergency response, this will equip them with necessary and relevant skills on how to respond to emergency of this nature; integration of the nursing personnel with other multidisciplinary team who are involved in emergency response. In any form of training, both nurses and the other personnel should be done together, this will ensure that they work as a team from the word go and not calling for emergency briefing meetings to allocate duties; carrying out of drills, this is where false alarms are raised so that their response is assessed and evaluated periodically, this will also help sharpen their practical skills; the nurses must also be trained on the use of emergency equipments so that they can be ready to perform any duty allocated to them during the emergency; they also need to be trained on communication skills and equipments during emergency situations.
References
University of Minnesota, (2007). Disaster simulation: Disaster in Franklin County.