Community Emergency Preparedness and Response Paper
An emergency occurs when a urgent situation takes place that can be detrimental to a person’s life. Emergencies are not a common occurrence; however do arise on occasion. The response and outcome of emergencies can be positively amplified with an organized plan or preparedness technique. In “The Neighborhood” community, there was an emergency, forest fires, which left the residents to experience unfortunate residual respiratory effects. The many that suffered include patients and staff in the hospital, senior center, school, and the Bley household.
According to the community news in “The Neighborhood,” there have been forest fires “for over five days, while unable to contain.” The fire has been destroying the land for five days and is quite difficult to extinguish. There are many disadvantages to forest fires such as damaging the land, producing air pollution, and exacerbating respiratory distress in patients. “The smokey air conditions affect everyone but especially those with pre-existing lung problems such as chronic lung conditions.” The forest fires are creating stress on the hospital. There is an alarming increase in emergency room visits due to patients experiencing respiratory distress. The emergency department is requesting beds on the medical-surgical floor to admit patients, “but none are available, so there is pressure to get patients discharged.” It is distressing to the staff working on the medical-surgical floor because they are “kept very busy admitting new patients as soon as others are discharged.” Some nurses were even forced to work over-time to provide adequate staff coverage to meet the increasing client numbers.
The problems produced from the forest fire continue in the senior center and the school. The individuals in the senior center go in and out, and “needed to use oxygen more often this week.” After the forest fire, the air is unsafe to breath and causing difficulty with breathing. Ms. Williams, the geriatric nurse at the senior
According to the community news in “The Neighborhood,” there have been forest fires “for over five days, while unable to contain.” The fire has been destroying the land for five days and is quite difficult to extinguish. There are many disadvantages to forest fires such as damaging the land, producing air pollution, and exacerbating respiratory distress in patients. “The smokey air conditions affect everyone but especially those with pre-existing lung problems such as chronic lung conditions.” The forest fires are creating stress on the hospital. There is an alarming increase in emergency room visits due to patients experiencing respiratory distress. The emergency department is requesting beds on the medical-surgical floor to admit patients, “but none are available, so there is pressure to get patients discharged.” It is distressing to the staff working on the medical-surgical floor because they are “kept very busy admitting new patients as soon as others are discharged.” Some nurses were even forced to work over-time to provide adequate staff coverage to meet the increasing client numbers.
The problems produced from the forest fire continue in the senior center and the school. The individuals in the senior center go in and out, and “needed to use oxygen more often this week.” After the forest fire, the air is unsafe to breath and causing difficulty with breathing. Ms. Williams, the geriatric nurse at the senior
References: National Fire Protection Association. (2012). Safety Information. Retrieved from http://www.nfpa.org/categoryList.asp?categoryID=1491&URL=Safety%20Information New York City Fire Department. (2011). Mission Statement of the New York City Fire Department. Retrieved from http://www.nyc.gov/html/fdny/html/general/mission.shtml New York State Department of Health. (2010). Home Fire Prevention, Children Ages Birth to Four Years. Retrieved from http://www.health.ny.gov/prevention/injury_prevention/children/fact_sheets/birth-4_years/home_fire_prevention_birth-4_years.htm The Neighborhood- Pearson Health Science. The Neighborhood News. December 24, 2009 Retrievedfrom http://pearsonneighborhood.ecollege.com/re/DotNextLaunch.asp?courseid=3609454 Visiting Nurse Service of New York. (2012). Community. Retrieved from http://www.vnsny.org/community/