ESSAY: Public Nurse – Natural Disaster

Select a potential natural or man-made disaster that could happen in your community. Then, write a 3- to 4-page paper about the disaster from the community nurse’s perspective.

Section 1: The Disaster, Man-Made or Natural
What disasters may strike your community and why? For example, do you live in “Tornado Alley,” or has climate change resulted in unusual cold weather snaps or blizzards in your community? Are you located in a flood plain? Include possible diseases that may result from a natural disaster, such as tetanus or cholera.
Section 2: The Nursing Response
Formulate responses to the disaster, considering systems and community levels of intervention.
Review websites where a disaster plan may be available for the public, or if one is not currently available, call public health department to see if a disaster plan exists for your community and what the plan contains.
In addition to reviewing websites for information about your local disaster plan, you will need to locate best practice/evidence-based practice guidelines in professional literature to determine whether your community’s disaster plan is as sound as it might be or if there is room for improvement.
Section 3: Is My Community Prepared for a Disaster?
What conclusions can you draw about your community’s preparedness plan from having completed this evaluation?

ANSWER

Public Nurse- Natural Disaster

Introduction

Flooding is a natural disaster that has divesting impacts on the community and population that experience it. The disaster leads to loss of lives, destruction of properties worth millions and tampers with the alignment of the social structures.  It also leads to the emergence of diseases which may affect the community in the later days even after the disaster has been solved. Floods are caused by heavy rains, overflowing rivers, broken dams, tsunamis, lack of vegetation and melting snow (Hannibal and Fredrick, 2017). Heavy rains are the simplest explanation for floods occurrence. Infrastructures are designed to help move rain waters into their appropriate basins.

Heavy rains overpower the designed drainage systems and water rises from the reservoirs causing floods. Large rivers often overflow causing floods to the residents who live around the banks. Aging dams can fail to hold excess waters due to heavy rainfalls which lead to their breakage. Water from the dams then flows to the dry land causing floods. Storm surges and tsunamis may also move water from the ocean to dry land leading to floods (Klima and Wong-Parodi, 2015). Lack of vegetation causes flash flooding if a period of long rains happens after a prolonged drought because there is no slowing down the rainwater.

Flooding in the City of Pittsburgh

The city of Pittsburgh has been experiencing floods in recent times which have caused a severe effect on its structure and development of the community. Floods in the area are likely caused by the constant fluctuation in the weather and climatic conditions. A season of cold and snowy winter leads to the formation of ice on the upper side of Allegheny and Monongahela rivers (Alim, Kawabata and Nakazawa, 2015). The climatic condition then unexpectedly and fast changes to warm than the normal which melts the snow at high rates raising their water levels of the two rivers. An additional torrential rain leads to banks breakage which causes flooding.

Effects of floods are hazardous and need to be prevented to avoid future suffering. Floods lead to death, destruction of properties and diseases. Healthcare providers, therefore, have a duty to ensure that they create a way to offer treatment and prevent the spread of diseases caused by floods (Yüksel et al., 2015). Infections that affect individuals in the city of Pittsburgh during floods are divided into two types which include waterborne and vector-borne diseases. Waterborne diseases include typhoid, hepatitis A, and cholera while vector-borne illnesses are malaria and yellow fever.

Nurses Response to Floods

Under floods circumstances, contamination of drinking water plays a major role in the spread of illnesses. Sewage plants are flooded which lead to the contamination of rivers and all other water sources. The first objective for nurses is to ensure clean drinking water is provided for the community (Hannibal and Fredrick, 2017). Direct contact with polluted water also leads to spread and cause illnesses. Nurses play a vital part in disaster management by ensuring that all individuals are safe during and after the disaster management process. Floods bring confusion, tension, and diseases.  Public nurses ensure calmness and protection during flood management process. For instance, during the flood periods in Pittsburgh, there are always cases of injuries as people try to escape. Public nurses ensure good health care is offered to the injured individuals and enable them to feel better again (Klima and Wong-Parodi, 2015). They also offer a fast community awareness program to the affected community to offer…