Terrorist attacks are serious events that can happen anywhere and anytime and require an immediate response from emergency teams. The Boston Marathon bombings is one example of an attack that caused death and severe injuries of American citizens and showed how professionals’ work could help minimize negative consequences. Therefore, the following response will analyze the phases of emergency management and Public Health Preparedness Capabilities used in this case and discuss a personal reaction to the video.
The four stages of emergency management create a continuous cycle of operations undertaken by the emergency department to ensure the safety of the population and the prevention of adverse outcomes. During the first stage, which is called mitigation, the team has to perform all the necessary actions to reduce the impact of possible disasters (Bullock et al., 2017). As mentioned in the video, the Boston Marathon evolved over the years, and this experience helped the team complete the necessary activities to support the spectators and the runners (Harvard University, 2013). Nevertheless, since such a huge event cannot be secured with the use of mitigation techniques, the emergency group had to implement the phase of preparedness. The event attracted medical volunteers prepared to perform on-site treatment for patients who had to be delivered to emergency rooms (Harvard University, 2013). Moreover, the team assigned 13 additional ambulances, which meant it had a more significant number of medical specialists (Harvard University, 2013). Thus, it can be stated that the emergency department was ready for any complications that can happen during the marathon.
Once the disaster occurred, the emergency team had to enter the response stage. This phase of emergency management has to occur immediately after an event and ensure the safety of the population (Bullock et al., 2017). The team’s first actions were communication through the radio which allowed a quick gathering of information regarding the explosions (Harvard University, 2013). After that, the goal was to notify all Boston hospitals about the situation and transfer all critical patients to emergency rooms (Harvard University, 2013). Specialists had to act quickly since they did not have time to evaluate the seriousness of the disaster (Harvard University, 2013). During the recovery period, the team of professionals had to engage in various activities, such as the restoration of damaged areas, psychological help, and prevention of financial burdens (Bullock et al., 2017). As indicated in the video, two weeks after the explosions, businesses in the area were already operating, and the community returned to life (Harvard University, 2013). Thus, an exceptional preparedness and immediate response helped the emergency team to ensure a quick recovery.
One of the public health preparedness capabilities that can be applied to this scenario is emergency operations coordination. This concept is defined as emergency teams’ ability to coordinate, support, and direct an incident through consistent organization and supervision (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018). The example of the Boston Marathon bombings shows how this capability contributes to the positive outcomes of emergency activities. The team proved that they could perform all the necessary functions of the discussed capability, such as preliminary assessment, active public health operations, immediate response, and evaluation of applied emergency practices (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018). Hence, emergency operations coordination is a critical capability that played a vital role in the case.
Another public health preparedness capability that can be analyzed with the help of the discussed situation is medical surge. This concept can be described as the possibility of conducting appropriate medical evaluation and identifying the impact of the incident on the health of the population (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018). In addition, this capability supports the delivery of the necessary medical care and additional public health services (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018). Regarding this particular scenario, the emergency team was able to correctly evaluate the situation and divide patients into groups according to their medical needs (Harvard University, 2013). This strategy allowed to transfer the most critical patients to the hospital within a short period and ensure the delivery of immediate professional treatment.
In my opinion, the emergency team that participated in the discussed scenario did an excellent job of responding to the explosions and providing medical support for the victims. Professional training and preparedness helped them to be ready for any complications that might happen during the event. Even though no one expected that such a disaster could occur, specialists made immediate decisions and prevented the appearance of massive panic and other adverse outcomes. As mentioned by the first interviewee, the first response to the explosions was communication which, I believe, was critical for the organization of operations and a positive outcome of the situation. In addition, it should be noted that medical agencies did everything possible to provide psychological support to people to help them recover for the incident. It is essential to ensure that both the physical and mental well-being of people is supported; therefore, health services performed proper operations.
Overall, on the example of the Boston Marathon, Bombings individuals can indicate how a professional emergency team can minimize the harmful influence of the terrorist attack quickly. The specialists’ team was able to apply various techniques and capabilities that contributed to a quick recovery from the disaster. Hence, this essay discussed how the team moved through emergency management phases and used two Public Health Capabilities and provided an individual reflection on the video.
References
Bullock, J. A., Haddow, G. D., & Coppola, D. P. (2017). Introduction to emergency management (6th ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2019). Public health emergency preparedness and response capabilities: National standards for state, local, tribal, and territorial public health. Web.
Harvard University. (2013). The Boston Marathon bombings: Lessons learned for saving lives | the forum at HSPH [Video]. YouTube. Web.