Case Study of Resilient Baton Rouge: Applying Depression Collaborative Care and Community Planning to Disaster Recovery

Self Cite

Background: This year has seen the emergence of two major crises, a significant increase in the frequency and severity of hurricanes and the COVID-19 pandemic. However, little is known as to how each of these two events have impacted the other. A rapid qualitative assessment was conducted to determine the impact of the pandemic on preparedness and response to natural disasters and the impact of past experiences with natural disasters in responding to the pandemic. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 26 representatives of 24 different community-based programs in southern Louisiana. Data were analyzed using procedures embedded in the Rapid Assessment Procedure-Informed Community Ethnography methodology, using techniques of immersion and crystallization and focused thematic analysis. Results: The pandemic has impacted the form and function of disaster preparedness, making it harder to plan for evacuations in the event of a hurricane. Specific concerns included being able to see people in person, providing food and other resources to residents who shelter in place, finding volunteers to assist in food distribution and other forms of disaster response, competing for funds to support disaster-related activities, developing new support infrastructures, and focusing on equity in disaster preparedness. However, several strengths based on disaster preparedness experience and capabilities were identified, including providing a framework for how to respond and adapt to COVID and integration of COVID response with their normal disaster preparedness activities. Conclusions: Although prior experience has enabled community-based organizations to respond to the pandemic, the pandemic is also creating new challenges to preparing for and responding to natural disasters.

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Rapid Assessment of Disaster Preparedness Needs and Resources during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Palinkas

Springgate

Sugarman

et al. 2021

Self Cite

“…For example, the Los Angeles County Community Disaster Resilience (LACCDR) project uses a collaborative partnership between the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, local community members, academics, and business stakeholders to address issues of community resilience related to disaster preparedness [158]. Other communities have prioritized community-engaged research in their implementation strategies for improving community resilience to different environmental stressors like Baton Rouge, Louisiana [159], southeast Texas [160], and Charleston, SC [157].…”

Section: Public Health Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hybrid Resiliency-Stressor Conceptual Framework for Informing Decision Support Tools and Addressing Environmental Injustice and Health Inequities

Burwell-Naney

Wilson

Whitlock

et al. 2019

While structural factors may drive health inequities, certain health-promoting attributes of one’s “place” known as salutogens may further moderate the cumulative impacts of exposures to socio-environmental stressors that behave as pathogens. Understanding the synergistic relationship between socio-environmental stressors and resilience factors is a critical component in reducing health inequities; however, the catalyst for this concept relies on community-engaged research approaches to ultimately strengthen resiliency and promote health. Furthermore, this concept has not been fully integrated into environmental justice and cumulative risk assessment screening tools designed to identify geospatial variability in environmental factors that may be associated with health inequities. As a result, we propose a hybrid resiliency-stressor conceptual framework to inform the development of environmental justice and cumulative risk assessment screening tools that can detect environmental inequities and opportunities for resilience in vulnerable populations. We explore the relationship between actual exposures to socio-environmental stressors, perceptions of stressors, and one’s physiological and psychological stress response to environmental stimuli, which collectively may perpetuate health inequities by increasing allostatic load and initiating disease onset. This comprehensive framework expands the scope of existing screening tools to inform action-based solutions that rely on community-engaged research efforts to increase resiliency and promote positive health outcomes.

“…A consistent significant positive correlation was presented between resilience and cohesion, and the mean intensities of these two features show place-specific differentiation [ 52 , 94 ]. In addition, after major flooding disasters, the post-disaster resilience was highlighted through expanding local behavioral health service delivery capacity [ 95 ], and after the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in March 2011, the co-evolutionary dynamics between perceptions of community resilience and the formation of supportive links among residents were explored [ 96 ].…”

Section: The Three Phases Of Urban Disaster Resilience Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Scientometric Review of Urban Disaster Resilience Research

Yang

Tan

et al. 2021

Natural disasters and human-made disasters are threatening urban areas globally. The resilience capacity of the urban system plays an important role in disaster risk response and recovery. Strengthening urban disaster resilience is also fundamental to ensuring sustainable development. Various practices and research for enhancing urban disaster resilience have been carried out worldwide but are yet to be reviewed. Accordingly, this paper gives a scientometric review of urban disaster resilience research by using CiteSpace. The time span (January 2001–January 2021) was selected and divided into three phases based on the number of publications. In addition, according to keyword statistics and clustering results, the collected articles are grouped into four hotspot topics: disaster risk reduction, specific disaster resilience research, resilience assessment, and combination research. The results show that most of the existing research is in the first two categories, and articles in the second and fourth categories both show a high growth rate and could be further research directions. The review indicates that urban disaster resilience is essential for a city’s sustainable development. Moreover, the findings provide scholars a full picture of the existing urban disaster resilience research which can help them identify promising research directions. The findings can also help urban government officials and policymakers review current urban disaster management strategies and make further improvements.