Free Essay Example: Disaster Management and The Role of Community Health Nurse

Introduction

Disasters along with other emergencies habitually result in significant effects on the health of individuals, encompassing the loss of lives for several people (Northeastern State University, 2017). Every new menace reveals the difficulties in managing health jeopardies and the effects of disasters and emergencies. Disease, disabilities, deaths, injuries, psychosocial challenges, as well as other health factors, can be reduced or avoided by the measures for disaster risk management involving health plus other sectors. The traditional concentration of the sector of health has been responding to emergencies and health care nurses have a vital role to play in case a disaster occurs. A resilient health system that is based on main healthcare at the level of the community can protect health facilities as well as services, reduce underlying vulnerabilities, and scale the response to reach the wide-ranging health requirements in disaster.

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Earthquake Disaster

There are several real or frictional disasters with the likelihood of affecting various but my area can be affected by the earthquake. An earthquake is a sudden ground shaking that is caused by seismic waves that pass through the rocks of the earth. These waves are produced when different energy form that are stored in the crust of the earth is released suddenly, usually when rock’s masses straining against each other unexpectedly fracture and slip (Smith, 2019). In most cases, earthquakes occur along geologic faults, slight zones where the masses of rock shift in relation to each other.

Once the earthquake occurs, it causes danger not only to the individuals but also to the environment. For many years, earthquakes have been accountable for several deaths along with the incalculable number of mutilations to property. Depending on the intensity, earthquakes can topple buildings as well as bridges, rapture pipelines for gas, plus other infrastructure, and trigger volcanoes, tsunamis, and landslides. Primarily, these phenomena are responsible for injuries and deaths.

The Role of Community Health Nurses on Earthquake Preparedness

Nurses play a vital role in earthquake disaster preparedness at the national, state, and local levels through the community, planning, and consumer education. They are responsible for educating people on what they are expected to do in case an earthquake occurs. Earthquake destroys a lot of properties, injuries, and deaths to various people. as a result, community health nurses take time to equip people who live in areas that are mostly affected by such disasters with information to save people’s lives along with the properties where it is possible (Smith, 2019). Educating the community along with the consumers gives people the required knowledge to deal with the disaster and help others. Knowledge is also essential to alleviate fear as well as anxiety.

Besides, they help the affected people during the disaster. During an earthquake disaster, a nurse can be assigned various tasks like delivering medication and first aid, monitoring mental health requirements, and assessing the victim’s state. Nurses who volunteer plus become participate in the response system of the disaster are prepared better when the disaster begins (Smith, 2019). They also play an essential role in serving their organization. developing a disaster preparedness understanding and orientational protocols, security measures, and response plans help nurses to acquire knowledge of the expectations of their employees from them. In this way, they are able to help the victims and save a life for many people through the care they provide to them. Individual preparation with the plan for an emergency as well as basic emergency supplies helps in making sure there is family safety and eases worries among the affected families. They also ensure there is reliable communication between them and people who live in risky areas and this facilitates immediate help during the disaster.

The Role of Community Health Nurses on Earthquake Response

During the disaster response, nurses are highly needed because of various reasons. They are considered caregivers to the victims. In most cases, due to injuries that occur to people during the earthquake, nurses are expected to attend to the victims who are saved and who need attention at the moment before being rushed to the hospital (Northeastern State University, 2017). They play a vital role in giving them first aid and helping them where necessary to ensure they do not face additional challenges.

Some people face minor injuries and some of them do not need to be taken to the hospital. The health care nurses are responsible for such people to ensure they get a positive chance to recover from their injuries. Even though nurses feel unsafe while responding to a certain disaster, they ensure they help where they are able, and in critical conditions, they seek assistance from other agencies who have the ability to assist.

Also, they play an essential role in educating people in the community on how they should respond to their colleagues after the occurrence. In most cases, if people in the area are not well educated, they may do nothing but watch the nurses alone as they save people. however, the nurses should take time and educate people in the community on how to respond to the disaster destruction to make it easy for the nurses because they will concentrate only on the critical conditions that need immediate and close attention (Smith, 2019). They also play a vital role in remaining close to affected families to encourage them and attend to them until they recover from the situation. When an earthquake occurs in an area, the largest percentage of people who live in that area is affected negatively and it takes time for them to recover.

The Role of Community Health Nurses on Earthquake Recovery

When it comes to disaster recovery, nurses are essential for recruiting, retaining, and organizing volunteers. There are several instances during a disaster when initial responders will be tired and they will not manage to do everything alone. In such cases, volunteers are needed to work spontaneously or in an organized fashion. Volunteers are essential in disaster recovery, and developing a program for the volunteers before disaster begins can be invaluable. It allows responders in an emergency to concentrate on major tasks as the rest is handled by the volunteers (Northeastern State University, 2017). The volunteer program is good for saving, lives, time, and money.

Furthermore, they take measures of the cause of the disaster and take steps to develop ways of controlling the causes to ensure the community is no longer affected by the disaster. Some actions are essential for saving people’s lives not only once but for the rest of their lives because some disasters can be controlled completely. Some areas face sub-development issues because of the disaster but when such disasters are controlled, they manage to pick are develop even more than others.

Additionally, community health nurses train as well as orient volunteers. Since some volunteers have never been involved in a disaster occurrence earlier, they require training along with basic safety skills. Depending on the task for the particular volunteer, volunteers are supposed to be offered extra training for various skills that are related to the work assigned to them (Smith, 2019). The type and amount of training that needs to be offered to calamify disaster is based on task complexity, equipment that is needed for performing the task, policies, laws, as well as regulations that govern the situation, and the level of experience of the volunteer in various situations.

Involved Agencies

A few organizations, which help offer opportunities to aid with relief efforts are the Red Cross Group, Public Health Services for the United States, and the Agency of the Federal Emergency Management (Northeastern State University, 2017). These agencies are essential for providing first-line earthquake response services. National societies contain a role that is assigned to them by the government in the response to disaster but the roles vary from one country to another. They are also involved in rescue operations and search, evacuating people who are endangered or injured by the disaster, restoring family links, managing shelters, retrieving or running ambulance services, as well as evacuating dead bodies.

Conclusion

The earthquake has affected various countries in several ways. They have limited growth and development in various areas because it may even occur more than three times per year hence affecting people’s lives and destroying properties. Nevertheless, Community Health Nurses have played a vital role in earthquake preparedness, response, and recovery and this has helped to save the community. Thus, every country should have various agencies which will be helpful to search disasters and this will help in saving people and their communities and finding ways of controlling the disaster occurrence.

References

Northeastern State University. (2017, September 20). The Nurse's Role in Community Health: NSU Online. https://nursingonline.nsuok.edu/articles/rnbsn/nurses-role-in-community-health.aspx.

Smith, Y. (2019, February 27). Roles of a Nurse. News. https://www.news-medical.net/health/Roles-of-a-Nurse.aspx.