Emergency Preparedness and Response Paper

Emergency Preparedness and Response Paper

This paper discussed the neighborhood newspaper articles and scenarios that took place in season two, episode five of The Nursing Neighborhood in the University of Phoenix website. The Neighborhood is a community located near a forest and a river bank with a total population of 64,200 residents. A forest fire that has been ranging for five days near the community of Neighborhood is affecting the residents, especially the individuals with pre-existing respiratory problems. The firefighters are striving to control the forest fire while the health care providers strive to help patients with breathing problems. The community needs an emergency preparedness and response plan to handle this emergency situation. State, national, and local public health agencies such as Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Red Cross, Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT), and state and local Emergency Medical Service (EMS) should have participated in this emergency in the community

Summary of Event

The senior residents are going to the senior center clinic with respiratory problems and the hospital is over flowing with patient with respiratory issues. The city officials urge the residents of the community to stay indoors and not go out unless it is necessary because of the smoky wind condition is blowing toward the town. In addition, the city officials urge that residents are not in any direct danger and will be notified in advance if there is any possibilities the fire will move toward the town (Person Health Science, 2012).

Cecelia Bley and her husband Jimmy is married for 56 years. Celia and Jimmy are in their 70's and have health problems. Cecelia's health-related problem is osteoarthritis that she describes as an annoyance (Pearson Health Science, 2012). Jimmy has hearing loss and suffers from moderate emphysema that he describes as not too bad (Pearson Health Science, 2012). Cecelia has told Jimmy that the dryer is not working again. Jimmy looks at the dryer and discovered that he needs to go to the store for parts to fix the dryer. Jimmy knows that if he goes out, he will have breathing problems because of the smoky condition outside. The daughter arrived to the house and took Cecelia to the Laundromat to dry her laundry.

The Neighborhood Middle school is hosting the annual Science fair during this time. There are more than 50 students participating in the event with their projects. The selected students will have a chance to go into higher leveled regional statewide or nationwide science fair (Pearson Health Science, 2012).

The Action of Health Care Workers

The hospital in the Neighborhood is full of patient with asthma and emphysema because of the smoke. The emergency department is in need of beds so they can transfer patient in the unit, but none are available