Disaster Relief

Preparing for happening Materialization of Disaster Disasters can strike at anytime, and for the nigh part, happen without warning. That is why is has induce vital for health dread cheeks to prep are in advance for haps. The most common type of disasters are natural (tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc. ). Since natural disasters engender always been around, health rush professionals have been aware of their capabilities and possible vituperate they can wreck upon society. For example, Hurricane Katrina completely wiped out the city of New siege of Orleans on August 29, 2005, leaving the city jockstrapless.Not only did the tragedy advance the lives of thousands of Americans, it also led to power failures, water and fuel shortages, flooding, and communication breakdowns. opus American health boot organizations have had touch plans for natural disasters, they could non fathom a hurricane of that magnitude. Another type of disaster that has become to a greater exten t of a focal point over the past decade is chemic or hazardous materials disaster. Whether these disasters are intentional (terrorist attacks) or unintentional (chemical spills or nuclear meltdowns), they are just as serious and need to be prepared 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 relinquish radiation into the environment, are two examples of intentional and unintentional disasters, respectively. Nature and cooking stove Large scale emergencies are a threat to any health care entity, regardless of location, size, or scope. No health care organization can cry the nature of a future emergency, nor can it predict the date of its arrival. However, health care providers can plan by adjacent six major areas of emergency response.These six areas of emergency preparedness were class forth by The Joint agency (TJC), formerly the Joint Commission on A ccreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), an United 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, availability of resources and assets, safety and security of the patients, staff responsibilities, uninterrupted put to work of its utilities, and patient clinical and support activities.All of these areas must be taken into favor when preparing for disaster. Disasters can happen at any time and place. Not each(prenominal) disasters happen outside of a health care organization. The hazards to which a hospital is susceptible include fire, utility failure, armed intruder, and hazmat release (occurring within the facility) and hurricane, earthquake, landslide, remote fire, flood, tornado, other severe storm, external hazmat release, and civil disturbance (Sternberg, 2003).These type 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 Care 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 character of a full scale disaster. Emergency plans have to be continually changed and updated to meet Federal, state, and local laws and statutes.Along with ontogenesis 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(prenominal) survival rate 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 make the necessary improvements to help better serve its patients in the case o f 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 important for government agencies, emergency personnel, and heath care organizations to phone 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, only if 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 biotic community for disaster. Retrieved September 17, 2011 from http//bama. ua. edu/joshua/archive/may08/Hospital%20Preparedness%20-%20Lauren%20Ford. doc. Graham, Jaclyn. (2007, June). Approved revisions to emergency management standards for detailed access hospitals, hospitals, and long term care. The Joint Commission Perspectives, 27, 1-10 . Sternberg, E. (2003). Planning for resilience in hospital internal disaster. Prehospital Disaster Medicine, 18(4)291300.