Emergency Plan Manual

HAZARD AND VULNERABILITY ANALYSIS Disasters and Home Health Services: An Overview What is a disaster? Often when we think of disasters, we assume that an earthquake or a hurricane in itself is a disaster. In fact, disasters are defined by the ability of a community to deal with hazards. A hazard is an act or condition posing the threat of harm, for example, an earthquake or a hurricane. A disaster is a “serious and possibly sudden event on such a scale that the stricken community needs extraordinary efforts to cope with it, often with outside help” 1 (e.g., federal aid, surrounding communities, etc.). Classifying an event as a disaster has to do with how a community is able to cope with its impact. An earthquake in an unpopulated area, for example, would not necessarily be a disaster. However, the same sized earthquake in an urban area might demand resources far beyond the community’s capacity, warranting this hazard to be classified as a disaster. Disasters are a threat to the public’s health because they cause:  Abrupt increases in illness, injury, or death  Destruction of the healthcare infrastructure  Population displacement  Psychological stress  Changes in the environment In a disaster, public health agencies and professionals:  Evaluate health impacts on the community, provide services  Assess water safety and sanitation  Coordinate sheltering  Track disease, injuries, and fatalities Planning for Disasters For home health agencies, planning for disasters requires a multi-faceted approach. The systematic identification of potential hazards in the community is a valuable first step in the establishment of appropriate preparedness measures. Effective plans that utilize local resources to deal with potential disasters are necessary for the agency to determine realistic and appropriate measures to respond to these hazards. Training employees and exercising plans allow agencies to familiarize staff members with their roles in an emergency and to identify potential weaknesses in their plans. Because disasters by definition overwhelm local resources, contracts with surrounding communities may be made to provide additional resources such as staff, space, equipment, etc., during a disaster. All of these are measures that our agency take to prepare for disasters. Data about hazards and safety practices that we take in care, including equipment problems and recalls; documented inspections of office for environmental safety hazards; reports of fire drills; reports of accidents or incidents involving staff or patients. The Hazard Risk Assessment Instrument (HRAI) focuses on the identification of potential hazards, vulnerabilities, and resources in the community. This provides the foundation for additional planning and specifies potential losses so that communities are able to prioritize funding and programming.