One of the most probable disasters in my area is wildfires, as our community is situated in a forest area. In the case of wildfires, many members of the community will become homeless, which implies that human service organizations, such as homeless shelters, will need to help the community deal with the consequences of the natural disaster. According to Public Health Emergency (PHE, 2020), when responding to such an emergency, the human service organization needs to make sure that all the homeless individuals and families are physically safe. All the family members need to be put together to help children and their parents maintain unity and comfort (PHE, 2020). Additionally, unique needs to be identified and addressed. In particular, hot food, shelter, and transportation should be arranged, and mental health and trauma assessments should be conducted (PHE, 2020). All the provided services should be culture-sensitive to comply with NOHS ethical standards.
When responding to the disaster, I would instruct all employees to use their cultural competence and humility skills to ensure that all the unique needs of representatives of different cultures are considered. In particular, I would ask them to pay attention to how culturally appropriate it is to put homeless people of different genders together to be compliant with Standard 11, which requires service providers to be knowledgeable about the different cultures and act accordingly (NOHS, 2015). Additionally, I would ask all the employees to stay away from engaging in personal relationships with the clients, as they may feel vulnerable and search for intimate relationships. This encouragement is coherent with Standard 5 described by NOHS (2015). Finally, I would pay special attention to Standard 4 to ensure that the safety of all the homeless people is ensured.
References
National Organization of Human Services. (2015). Ethical standards for human services professionals. Web.
Public Health Emergency. (2020). Disaster response for homeless individuals and families: A trauma-informed approach. Web.