142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

311247
Evaluation of the public health system response to Hurricane Sandy in the NY metro area

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Monday, November 17, 2014 : 9:10 AM - 9:30 AM

Thomas Chandler, PhD , National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Columbia University, New York, NY
Benita Panigrahi, MD, MS , National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Columbia University, New York, NY
David M. Abramson, PhD MPH , National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Columbia University, New York, NY
The National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Columbia University, is conducting a CDC funded study to examine the challenges that arose for two local public health agencies (Nassau and Westchester Counties, New York) immediately before, during, and after Hurricane Sandy struck the New York City region. This project is informed by recent theoretical work that frames capacity, competency, and capability as ways to analyze public health work performance. Applied to a disaster setting, the study’s goals are to: (1) develop a chronology of key Emergency Operations Center (EOC) decisions which had an impact on each county’s disaster response operations, (2) elucidate how complex organizations function during times of extreme duress by illustrating how the health department operations were impacted by the disaster, and (3) determine how public health workers can improve upon their disaster response and recovery strategies, particularly when working with socially vulnerable communities. Results will be gathered using a triangulation approach of interviews and focus groups with more than 80 public health staff, and abstraction of documents. Findings pertaining to the chronology and interview / focus groups will be presented, along with the identification of capability-based training themes used to develop modular trainings to be implemented during the second year of the project.

Learning Areas:

Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Other professions or practice related to public health
Public health or related education
Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
Describe 3 barriers to improving disaster response during extreme weather events. Identify how public health workers can improve upon their disaster response and recovery strategies, particularly when working with socially vulnerable communities. Identify capability-based training themes which can be used to develop courses for public health workers.

Keyword(s): Public Health Policy, Public Health Curricula & Competencies

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have more than 10 years of experiencing working in public health, an instructional designer and as an associate research scientist. This abstract pertains to an evaluation of public health best practices, which I am directly involved with, as part of a CDC preparedness and emergency response learning center grant.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.