Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T05:39:30.715Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Community Engagement and Pediatric Disaster Readiness in a Large Urban Disaster Resource Hospital Network: The Case of “The Great California ShakeOut”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2013

Darshi Balasuriya ,
Ellen Iverson ,
Rita V. Burke  and
Jeffrey S. Upperman
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We examined the response of 11 Los Angeles County (LAC) hospitals designated as Disaster Resource Centers (DRCs) to a statewide, earthquake preparedness drill, LAC's most comprehensive earthquake disaster drill to date. Semistructured interviews were conducted with the coordinators of 11 of the 14 LAC DRCs within 3 weeks of the drill. Interviews were transcribed and thematic analysis was supported by analytical software (Atlas.ti). Except for one pediatric specialty DRC, most DRCs did little to fully test their institutions' capacity to manage pediatric patients. Few DRCs included children as mock victims. Little or no attention was focused on pediatric triage and other pediatric clinical, psychosocial, and resource issues. Respondents maintained that community readiness is hampered by compartmentalizing the preparedness planning, training, and drilling. Without a mandate to coordinate with other agencies, few DRCs reported coordination with other community entities. Those that did were in smaller submunicipalities within LAC. Community coordination is critical to effective response to disasters, yet disaster preparedness planning and drills are most often uncoordinated and compartmentalized. Drills and training need to be transdisciplinary and coordinated with other community entities likely to play a role in pediatric disaster management.

(Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2012;6:182–186)

Keywords

disaster preparednesspediatricsearthquake drillcommunity disaster responsechildren's healthdisaster planninghospitalsLos AngelesCaliforniaearthquakes
Type
Concepts in Disaster Medicine
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , June 2012 , pp. 182 - 186
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1.Kapucu, N.Collaborative emergency management: better community organising, better public preparedness and response. Disasters. 2008;32 (2):239–262.Google Scholar
2.Kettl, DF.The Worst Is Yet to Come: Lessons from September 11 and Hurricane Katrina. Philadelphia: Fels Government Research Service, University of Pennsylvania; 2005.Google Scholar
3.Hamilton, DR, Gavagan, TF, Smart, KT, et alHouston's medical disaster response to Hurricane Katrina: part 1: the initial medical response from Trauma Service Area Q. Ann Emerg Med. 2009;53 (4):505–514.Google Scholar
4.United States Senate. Statement of Robert A. Eckels, County Judge, Harris County, Texas, before the Senate homeland security and governmental affairs committee hearing on recovering from hurricane Katrina: responding to the needs of the displaced, today and tomorrow. September 28, 2005. http://www.columbia.edu/itc/journalism/cases/katrina/Federal%20Government/Congress/U.S.%20Senate/Senate%20Hearings/Senate%20Hearing%202005-09-28/Eckels%20Remarks%20Sept%2028%202005.pdf.Google Scholar
5.Markenson, D, Redlener, I.Pediatric preparedness for disasters and terrorism. In: A National Consensus Conference; 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10022/AC:P:8842.Google Scholar
6.Zhang, L, Li, H, Carlton, JR, Ursano, R.The injury profile after the 2008 earthquakes in China. Injury. 2009;40 (1):84–86.Google Scholar
7.Nishikiori, N, Abe, T, Costa, DG, Dharmaratne, SD, Kunii, O, Moji, K.Who died as a result of the tsunami? Risk factors of mortality among internally displaced persons in Sri Lanka: a retrospective cohort analysis. BMC Public Health. 2006;6 (73):73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8.US Census Bureau. US Census Bureau State and County QuickFacts. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/index.html. Accessed November 16, 2009.Google Scholar
9.Brevard, SB, Weintraub, SL, Aiken, JB, et alAnalysis of disaster response plans and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: lessons learned from a level I trauma center. J Trauma. 2008;65 (5):1126–1132.Google Scholar
10.California Department of Finance. California Department of Finance 2008 population estimates. http://www.dof.ca.gov/research/demographic/reports/estimates/e-3/by_year_2000-08/.Google Scholar
11.Wagner, J.Earthquake drill aims to make state more prepared. Los Angeles Times, 2008.Google Scholar
12.Ferrer, RR, Balasuriya, D, Iverson, E, Upperman, JS.Pediatric disaster preparedness of a hospital network in a large metropolitan region. Am J Disaster Med. 2010;5(1):27-34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13.California Department of Education. Understanding Year-round Schools. Sacramento, CA: Southern California Consortium on Research in Education; 2005.Google Scholar
14.US Department of Education. Selected Statistics on Enrollment, Teachers, Dropouts, and Graduates in Public School Districts Enrolling More Than 15,000 Students, by State: 1990, 2000, and 2006. Sacramento, CA: Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics; 2009.Google Scholar