Disaster Recovery Plan

Slide 2: Hello, my name is  —. In today’s presentation, I’ll discuss a disaster recovery plan. Disaster recovery plans are important to enable a community to stand back on its feet again. The devastating incident of the Smallville fire highlights the need for a disaster recovery plan. It is crucial for any disaster plan to address the community’s sensitive needs and incorporate culturally sensitive strategies. Such plans help communities rise again and also ensure that equal access to resources and services is provided. The MAP-IT model is one of the best strategies for developing a disaster recovery plan because it allows strategic planning and involves numerous stakeholders (Lee & Chen, 2022). This model is rooted in the principles of Healthy People 202 and equity and thus provides a strategic disaster recovery plan, enhances resilience, and diminishes health disparities in the affected communities. 

Determinants of Health

Social, economic, and cultural factors play an important role in health and recovery outcomes. These determinants are interconnected with one another. They allow communities to access healthcare, provide services during and after disasters, and smooth communication. It is crucial to provide health and recovery resources to the affected communities. Determinants of health such as education, socioeconomic status, housing, and access to healthcare services play a significant role in fulfilling this purpose (Bedi et al., 2021). For instance, the Blaze that struck Smallville massively affected low-income residents and added to the existing health disparities. It is because such areas already have limited access to health care and emergency resources and the disaster amplifies this disparity. 

Cultural, Social, and Economic Barriers

Cultural barriers such as language proficiency can make disaster recovery more complicated. Such as migrant workers in Smallville may avoid accessing relief services due to fear of getting deported or facing discrimination due to language barriers (López et al., 2021). Moreover, economic barriers such as loss of job or property can massively impact low-income families. According to research by Smith and Al-Khatib (2020), communities that have low-income or high poverty rates go through a long recovery period due to limited financial resources and low to no support systems. It is important to address economic, cultural, and social barriers to promote equity and reduce health disparities.  

Disaster Recovery Plan for Smallville Regional Hospital: MAP-IT Framework

As a senior nurse at Smallville Regional Hospital, I have proposed the following disaster recovery plan to eliminate health disparities and increase access to healthcare facilities after the adverse fire disaster. This plan has incorporated MAP-IT strategy and is based on the principles of social justice and cultural sensitivity. 

Collaborative Partners

It is important to collaborate with healthcare providers, government agencies, and even non-profit organizations to ensure that disaster recovery plans work effectively (Quinn et al., 2020). The collaborative approach allows professionals to provide equal resources to the community, especially for people from low socioeconomic status, people with disabilities, and minorities (Baum et al., 2021). 

Community Needs

Smallville has a diverse population that is not equally distributed and that is why bringing a disaster recovery plan based on principles of social justice is important. As the town has a poverty rate of 23%, people must be experiencing financial instability, loss of jobs or property, and mental and physical health conditions post-disaster (Sullivan & Galea, 2019). This can fuel the already existing health disparities within the community.

Efforts to Reduce Health Disparities and Improve Access to Healthcare

A successful disaster plan needs to address immediate relief of the people as well as long-term recovery for everyone regardless of their race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status  (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2021). This plan aims to provide equal resources to all without discrimination and build a resilient community

Plan Objectives

• Increase equal healthcare facilities, such as mental health, physical health, chronic stress management, and disease management. 
• Enable proficient communication channels that address language barriers and allow people with different backgrounds to get resources like English-speaking people (Healthy People 2020).
• Ensure ample accommodations for people who have lost their homes. For this purpose, collaborating with shelters and community centers is important (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020).

Timeline of the Plan

Cultural Sensitivity and Social Justice

Addressing the specific needs of minorities and providing culturally sensitive care is crucial to ensure social justice in the disaster recovery plan (Betancourt et al., 2020). The plan should implement a triage protocol to provide resources to people with urgent requirements. Moreover, efforts can be made to locate homeless people and those with disabilities to provide immediate help to them (Braveman et al., 2021). This disaster plan is rooted in social justice and providing equitable resources to affected people.

Health and Governmental Policies Impacting Disaster Recovery Plan

A disaster recovery plan collaborates with the government and other organizations to effectively provide resources to affected people. That is why governmental and health policies deeply impact managing during and post-disaster services. Government policies such as Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) allow healthcare providers to equally distribute resources among affected people and cater to community-specific needs (O’Sullivan et al., 2020). It is important to align the disaster recovery plan with health policies prioritizing the needs of vulnerable populations because health disparities can increase if this is not the case (Savoia et al., 2021). Moreover, government policies enable people from the community to volunteer in recovery plans (Quinn et al., 2020).

Evidence-based Strategies

It is crucial to address communication barriers for the affected community to allow them access to important resources of the disaster recovery plan. One evidence-based strategy is to provide multiple language communication systems and multiple formats of disaster alerts to reach the whole community. Towns like Smallville have people from diverse backgrounds and languages. They need someone to help them understand the language they don’t speak in times of crisis. Thus appointing communication leaders who can understand local cultures and languages is important. Research by Sullivan & Galea (2019) shows that doing so also increases people’s trust and compliance during devastating times. Furthermore, utilizing social media platforms is also an effective strategy to provide updates to all residents (Quinn et al., 2020). This strategy can also help overcome language barriers as mobile phones provide information in multiple languages.

Interprofessional Collaboration to Improve Disaster Recovery Efforts

Interprofessional collaboration increases the chances for a disaster recovery plan to succeed because when different professionals meet to cater to the needs of people experiencing disaster, recovery comes faster. A team of professionals such as doctors, nurses, social workers, mental health professionals, and emergency responders enhances the recovery efforts by working as a team (Shaw et al., 2020). Furthermore, such a holistic team can make better-informed decisions to provide immediate relief to those in need. These strategies address communication barriers to increase disaster recovery reach and allow a community to stand on its feet again. Addressing cultural and social needs in such disaster situations is important to help affected people develop trust and better resilience. 

Conclusion

This disaster recovery plan is rooted in social and culturally sensitive principles to address the needs of people affected by the Smallville fire. This plan highlights the importance of interprofessional collaboration and effective communication strategies. Moreover, this plan focuses on building resilience and the well-being of the community.

References

Baum, F., Freeman, T., Lawless, A., Labonté, R., & Sanders, D. (2021). Health equity in action: Reflections from an Australian case study examining the implementation of social determinants of health-oriented policies. Health Promotion International, 36(1), 159-169.

Bedi, J. S., Vijay, D., Dhaka, P., Gill, J. P. S., & Barbuddhe, S. B. (2021). Emergency preparedness for public health threats, surveillance, modeling & forecasting. Indian Journal of Medical Research, 153(3), 287-298. 

Betancourt, J. R., Green, A. R., Carrillo, J. E., & Ananeh, O. (2020). Defining cultural competence: A practical framework for addressing racial/ethnic disparities in health and healthcare. Public Health Reports, 125(4), 219-225.

Braveman, P., Arkin, E., Proctor, D., Kauh, T., & Holm, N. (2021). Systemic and structural racism: Definitions, examples, health damages, and approaches to dismantling. Health Affairs, 40(2), 161-168.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2020). CDC’s response to the 2020 wildfires. https://www.cdc.gov. 

Fothergill, A., & Peek, L. A. (2020). Poverty and disasters in the United States: A review of recent sociological findings. Natural Hazards Review, 2(3), 1-14.

Green, D., & Rundell, L. (2022). Promoting equity in disaster recovery: Lessons from recent community-based initiatives. Journal of Community Health, 47(1), 13-27.

Healthy People 2020. (2022). Social determinants of health. https://www.healthypeople.gov. 

Healthy People 2030. (2021). Health equity and social determinants objectives. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. https://www.healthypeople.gov/2030. 

Lee, J., & Chen, R. (2022). Community-centered disaster preparedness: The role of strategic frameworks like MAP-IT. Public Health Nursing, 39(2), 89-96.

López, C., Ruiz, A., & Medina, J. (2021). Overcoming cultural barriers in disaster recovery: The role of trust and inclusion. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, 15(5), 483-491.

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2021). A framework for equitable allocation of disaster relief. National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/26057. 

O’Sullivan, T., Phillips, K. P., & Amaratunga, C. A. (2020). The influence of health policy frameworks on disaster recovery efforts. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, 14(5), 653-660. https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2020.102

Quinn, S. C., Kumar, S., Freimuth, V. S., Kidwell, K., & Musa, D. (2020). Racial disparities in exposure, susceptibility, and access to health care in the U.S. H1N1 influenza pandemic. American Journal of Public Health, 101(2), 285-293.

Reynolds, A., Carter, T., & Johnson, M. (2021). Effective frameworks for disaster recovery planning: Implementing MAP-IT in community health initiatives. Journal of Emergency Nursing, 47(3), 142-150.

Savoia, E., Lin, L., & Viswanath, K. (2021). Equitable disaster recovery and health disparities: Evaluating public health emergency policies. Journal of Emergency Management, 19(3), 293-304. https://doi.org/10.5055/jem.2021.0569 

Smith, M., & Al-Khatib, H. (2020). Socioeconomic disparities and recovery from natural disasters: Evidence from community case studies. Global Health Research and Policy, 5(1), 24-31.

Williams, S., & Raza, F. (2021). Social determinants of health and disaster resilience: A cross-sectional analysis. Journal of Social Health, 11(3), 204-212.