I was looking the the other Disaster/Pandemic thread that Florida1 started. She mentioned that after the hurricanes, that they had problems getting basic supplies and food stores were often closed for weeks after the storm.
That concerns me. I wonder in case of disasters like hurricanes, earthquakes and pandemics if the nurses who work in the area have problems like that. I'd be worried about leaving my family if there was no heat or electric. After loosing electric in the ice storms in the Carolinas a few years back, my husband bought us a generator. I try to keep enough gas stored so that I could run that and maybe have an extra tank of gas for getting back and forth to work, if things were shut down. I never want to wait in the cold on those gas lines again; or have to risk driving around to find necessities!
What disasters have you been through? What lessons did you learn about what things would make life easier if it happens again to you? What can we learn from your experience, and how can we prepare for so we dont have to go through th esame problems you did?
Where there any sepcial tricks or issues that came up that helped you at work? Any special problems that nurses in disasters face?
I have a confession- my home first aid kit is pretty anemic right now :) DH burned his hand prety badly at work last week. I hadnt checked my kit in awhile, and was shocked to see how low I was on some stuff. I only had one roll banfage and had to make a run to WallyWorld the next day! If the stores were shut or the roads iced in or otherwise impassible that would have been an issue. Maybe not life threatening- but its a small example of how not being well prepared can be a problem.
I'd have been so embarrased to admit to hubby I couldnt take care of it, or come thru when he needed me to.
What do you do to prepare? I'm going to restock my kit, and get some more OTC stuff to keep on hand too. What else should I be thinking about?
The ball is indeed, as they say, in our court. My wife suffers from an innumo-compromised condition that has the past few months caused her health problems. Looking ahead to what may lay in the future we've begun to stockpile her medications in earnest, including Tamiflu. An interruption in the supply system would open the door for opportunistic infection, and we have already seen what that means in her case.
No thank you, I will not sit idly by and wait for the lines to form and prices to react to increased demand along with shortages caused as much by the inability to move the supplies to the areas of highest demand as any actual production shortfalls.
this portal, promising practices-pandemic preparedness tools, has been updated since then and there are a variety of links and sources relevant to health care workers.
this project aims to enhance public health preparedness for an influenza pandemic and conserve resources by sharing promising practices.
cidrap and the pew center on the states (pcs) launched this initiative to collect and peer-review practices that can be adapted or adopted by public health stakeholders. the project was conceived and funded by the pew charitable trusts.
this collection of more than 150 practices represents a yearlong effort. our advisory committee, composed of state and local public health experts in pandemic influenza preparedness nationwide, selected the categories and topics at left.
pandemic planners and others submitted materials, chiefly via surveys. the practices in this project come from 25 us states and 37 counties & cities. if your agency isn't included (click on the map to check) you can still submit practices.
A MA hospital is sending letters to all employees regarding an emergency preparedness grant that the Hospital recieved from the Dept of Homeland Security. In order to be prepared for an outbreak of contagious disease, they are requiring all emplyees to complete a questionaire. They are required to list the names of all persons living in their house-holds and any persons they have close contact with. In the event that an infectious disease is brought into the hospital, the employees and their families would be required to be screened and placed on antibiotics.
I understand the hospital's need to be prepared for this sort of thing, however I do see some problems that could result from having to provide all this info to the hospital.
A MA hospital is sending letters to all employees regarding an emergency preparedness grant that the Hospital recieved from the Dept of Homeland Security. In order to be prepared for an outbreak of contagious disease, they are requiring all emplyees to complete a questionaire. They are required to list the names of all persons living in their house-holds and any persons they have close contact with. In the event that an infectious disease is brought into the hospital, the employees and their families would be required to be screened and placed on antibiotics.
I understand the hospital's need to be prepared for this sort of thing, however I do see some problems that could result from having to provide all this info to the hospital.
indigo girl
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Posted with permission from Effect Measure.
The problem of testing the effectiveness of bird flu vaccines
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