Brendan Corris
Professor M. Barfchin
Emergency management
9/12/17
Emergency Situations
Imagine a giant tornado ripping through your town on the horizon, or the emergency siren in your town going off because a bombing is headed your way. People in the situations are suppose to remain calm to be able to make good decisions. Most of the time people panic and don’t eventually work together to be as safe as possible.
One system that can help inform people on what to do and what some causes of disasters are would be Environmental Health Training in Emergency Response (EHTER). This system is in place to help prepare emergency response personnel with the skills, knowledge and resources needed to act correctly upon environmental health impacts of emergencies and disasters. (https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/elearn/ehter.htm). Any person can register for the courses that the EHTER offers. These courses help people to identify what the emergency is and its potential problems, risks and hazards. It also teaches people how to form a plan of response and how to select the right equipment to use depending on the situation. This site states, “Most of the course involves hands-on operation practice and response to simulated events.” Practice on how to handle these events is very useful. When people are ever in a similar situation they feel as if they have already experienced this is know what to do. This eliminates the feeling of panic and pressure, which can ultimately lead them into making the logical decisions needed to handle the problem. Anytime you feel as if you have been in a similar situation you instinctively think of what you did the last time, and this is how you can be able to make the right decisions in an emergency.
People who take this course automatically have a better chance of living in a major disaster or event. There is also an awareness level course that teaches people about about the key environmental health issues and challenges of emergency response and recovery. The site also states, “Several assessments have demonstrated the need for emergency preparedness and response education and training for environmental health practitioners.” This shows the importance of people being educated on disasters and emergencies and what to do.
(“Environmental Health Services (EHS).” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 20 June 2017, www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/elearn/ehter.htm.)
The ASPCA also has information on their website for disaster preparedness. Many pieces of advice were given to make sure you are prepared to ensure the safety of your pets during a disaster. One thing an owner could do is to get a rescue alert sticker to put on their front door. This would help people in the area to know that you have a pet inside your home. So if anything happens and your pets are trapped in there people can see the sticker and make an effort to rescue your pets. If you have already evacuated your home along with your pets, and if you are able to you can write evacuated on the sticker to let people know. (https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/general-pet-care/disaster-preparedness) Another tip they included was for owners to arrange a safe haven in their homes so that in the event that you cannot get to your pet they have somewhere to go that is safe. A designated caregiver should also be chosen should the owner have an emergency pop up and not be able to come home for a few days. Emergency supplies such as name tags, or a microchip can be useful if you cannot find your pet. Traveling kits may also be used when a situation occurs and you need them. Such items as extra bowls and collars can also end up being useful. (“Disaster Preparedness.” ASPCA, www.aspca.org/pet-care/general-pet-care/disaster-preparedness.)
Ready.gov is a website that gives lots of information about what to do in certain situations. An example would be floods. They provide information on how to act during a flood. They avoid walking or driving through flood waters, 6 inches of moving water can knock you down, and if there are flash flood warnings then you should move to higher grounds as soon as possible. (https://www.ready.gov/floods) Tips such as moving your important indoor items to the highest floor of your house can also be found on the website. The site even gives people financial advice for an emergency flood saying that buying flood insurance could be a good investment. People can also go to this site to be educated on floods, because it provides information such as what a flood is and where it can happen. The source states, “Flooding can happen in any U.S. state or territory” (“Floods.” Floods | Ready.gov, www.ready.gov/floods.)
On the Red Cross website there are steps about how to prepare for a disaster with your family. The first step says to come up with ideas on how to act for the different events that can take place where you are with your family. So for example, families who live in Florida or Louisiana would discuss what they would do if a hurricane was on its way. They might already list the things they would bring if they decided to evacuation. Or if they chose not to evacuate they would talk about where they would go for shelter, or what they would buy for after the hurricane such as water and food. The same would go for people in Kansas or Oklahoma that may experience tornados. The plans may be different for families that live up north. If a blizzard were to hit their house they would need to discuss what they would need incase the power goes out. Maybe they would need wood to burn and keep warm. Actions can vary depending on where the families live.
The second step says to review the responsibilities that each family member has in order for the family to work together to get past the disaster comfortably. One member may be in charge of going to the store and getting water, or food. Another may have the job of moving all the important items to a safe location. If the whole family works as a team it can make the process of preparing for an event so much more efficient.
The last step was that you should practice parts of your plan as much as possible. This can make sure that when a disaster does happen everything that was discussed goes smoothly and there are as less errors as possible. Because in the event of an emergency each error made in preparing is costly. (“Make a Plan.” American Red Cross, www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/make-a-plan.)
Employees that work in hospitals are also recommended to take a course on emergency preparedness. At the end of the course they are tested on what they have learned. This can be useful to people that work in hospitals for many situations. People that work in the emergency room are very educated on how to handle to patient in the ambulance and what to do or say. The doctors know how to work quickly and effectively. If you are just a surgeon you will also maybe need to know what to do in an emergency. If anything happens to the patient during surgery and he doesn’t have much time the surgeons should have a plan or know how to act quickly in order to stabilize the patient’s condition. The site also says, “Every employee has a role and responsibilities in emergency / disaster preparedness.” Meaning every employee needs to know their role in preparing for a disaster. (2010. “Hospital Disaster Preparedness Awareness Training Part 1.” Hospital Disaster Preparedness Awareness Training Part 1.)
The NDPTC at the University of Hawaii has a website that gives plenty of information. It also explains how it has a course called Social Media for Natural Disaster Response and Recovery. Their course says that its focus is on using social media for disaster preparedness. This is more of a unique course, but very useful too. Lots of people these days get their news from social media, so a course that shows how to prepare for disasters through social media is a great idea. The course they offer includes an introduction to social media, being hands-on with facebook and twitter, and data mining. All of these social medias have tons of sources where people can get information on disasters. Twitter especially, where news sources such as Fox News and CNN have their own profile where they spew new information from to notify users and or followers.(“NDPTC – The National Disaster Preparedness Training Center at the University of Hawaii.” NDPTC Course Catalog, ndptc.hawaii.edu/training/catalog/8/.)
There are many sources that people can go to to learn about public health and emergency/disaster response awareness. Websites are available to show people how to make a plan and educate people about disasters or public health. Courses are also in place to help people practice what to do in an emergency. So, with all these examples of resources, it can be hard for people to be uneducated about what to do in the case of an emergency or how to recover from one.
Bibliography
-“Environmental Health Services (EHS).” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 20 June 2017, www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/elearn/ehter.htm.
-“Disaster Preparedness.” ASPCA, www.aspca.org/pet-care/general-pet-care/disaster-preparedness.
-“Floods.” Floods | Ready.gov, www.ready.gov/floods.
-“Make a Plan.” American Red Cross, www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/make-a-plan.
-2010. “Hospital Disaster Preparedness Awareness Training Part 1.” Hospital Disaster Preparedness Awareness Training Part 1.
-“NDPTC – The National Disaster Preparedness Training Center at the University of Hawaii.” NDPTC Course Catalog, ndptc.hawaii.edu/training/catalog/8/.