Disaster Relief

Preparing for Disaster Materialization of Disaster Disasters can knock against at anytime, and for the nigh part, line up without warning. That is why is has become vital for wellness c be organizations to prepargon in advance for disasters. The most common case of disasters atomic number 18 natural (tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc. ). Since natural disasters have always been around, wellness awe professionals have been aware of their capabilities and possible damage they can clangoring upon society. For example, Hurricane Katrina completely wiped out the city of New Orleans on disdainful 29, 2005, leaving the city encourageless.Not only did the tragedy claim the lives of thousands of Americans, it also conduct to power failures, water and fuel shortages, flooding, and communication breakdowns. While American wellness attention organizations have had emergency plans for natural disasters, they could not fathom a hurricane of that magnitude. Another type of disaster that has become more of a central point over the past decade is chemical or unassured materials disaster. Whether these disasters are intentional (terrorist attacks) or unintentional (chemical spills or nuclear meltdowns), they are unsloped as serious and need to be tack togetherd for just like natural disasters.The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and the more recent tsunami that stuck japan on March 11, 2011 and destroyed nuclear plants releasing radiation into the environment, are two examples of intentional and unintentional disasters, respectively. Nature and Scope Large carapace emergencies are a threat to any wellness care entity, regardless of location, size, or scope. No health care organization can telephone the nature of a future emergency, nor can it predict the date of its arrival. However, health care providers can plan by following six major areas of emergency response.These six areas of emergency preparedness were set forth by The Joint Commission (T JC), formerly the Joint Commission on Accreditation of health care Organizations (JCAHO), an linked States-based not-for-profit organization that accredits over 19,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. The six areas of emergency management are as follows open lines of communication, availableness of resources and assets, safety and security of the patients, staff responsibilities, uninterrupted function of its utilities, and patient clinical and support activities.All of these areas must be taken into consideration when preparing for disaster. Disasters can happen at any time and place. Not all disasters happen alfresco of a health care organization. The hazards to which a hospital is susceptible admit fire, utility failure, armed intruder, and hazmat release (occurring within the facility) and hurricane, earthquake, landslide, external fire, flood, tornado, other trying storm, external hazmat release, and civil disturbance (Sternberg, 2003).These typ e of disasters are termed internal disasters, and are just as difficult for health care organizations to prepare for as off-site (external) disasters. Impact and Importance on American Health look at It is absolutely crucial for healthcare organizations to have emergency plans put in place and ensures that its employees know what their role is in case of a across-the-board scale disaster. Emergency plans have to be continually changed and updated to meet Federal, state, and topical anaesthetic laws and statutes.A dour with developing a emergency plan, health care organizations must routinely practice and execute their emergency plan to help better prepare its employees for a disaster. The better prepared the organizations employees are, the potential for higher survival target of the disasters victims. In the event that a disaster strikes, health care organizations must run post-emergency assessments of the facilitys performance during the crisis and nock the necessary improvem ents to help better serve its patients in the case of a similar disaster.Continual strides must be made with regards to preparing for disaster for health care providers, because disaster can strike at any moment. It is so primal for government agencies, emergency personnel, and heath care organizations to band together to help create plans that will save lives and produce the best possible outcome. The most difficult aspect of disasters is that they are completely unpredictable, but with health care organizations continual persistence of staying ahead of the curve and developing emergency plans, American lives will be saved.Bibliography Ford, Lauren. (2008). Preparing a hospital and community for disaster. Retrieved September 17, 2011 from http//bama. ua. edu/joshua/ enumeration/may08/Hospital%20Preparedness%20-%20Lauren%20Ford. doc. Graham, Jaclyn. (2007, June). Approved revisions to emergency management standards for critical access hospitals, hospitals, and long term care. The J oint Commission Perspectives, 27, 1-10. Sternberg, E. (2003). Planning for resilience in hospital internal disaster. Prehospital Disaster Medicine, 18(4)291300.