Issues, considerations and recommendations on emergency preparedness for vulnerable population groups

Abstract

The Workshop on Emergency Preparedness for Vulnerable Population Groups was held on 2 and 3 March 2009 in Ottawa, ON, Canada. The purpose of the workshop was to enhance communications within the emergency community response network and to identify the needs and gaps of emergency preparedness against chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosives events for vulnerable population groups. The workshop was organised to enable extensive round-table discussions and provide a summary of key issues, considerations and recommendations for emergency response planners.

Household Emergency Preparedness: A Literature Review

“…Disasters have differential impacts depending on the population of interest and their degree of preparedness for a specific emergency [20,21]. There is, however, a lack of consensus in the literature regarding the factors which contribute to risk.…”

“…For example, 82% of organizations that were active in disaster response during the 1997 Red River flood in the town of Rosenort, Manitoba were faith-based [49]. According to Chen et al [21] residents of close-knit communities understand and are aware of who is at risk in their community and where they are located. Community groups and organisations, such as health centres, can also play a key role in identifying those in need during disasters, since they are routinely accessed by at-risk residents [32,55].…”

“…Persons with disabilities may have specific functional limitations, depending on the social, cultural, economic and institutional environment. This concept is outlined in the Function-Based Framework (C-MIST) described by Kailes and Enders [58] and is an important element of emergency management, given that disasters usually involve a disruption in social and physical environments and associated supports which can exacerbate risk [21,24,31,[59][60][61]. For example, lack of resources such as food, water, and medical equipment can result in further health deterioration for persons with a chronic illness who require ongoing support or a specific self-care routine [30,60,62].…”

“…Families caring for someone with a disability are encouraged to have individualised emergency plans [60] that do not rely on the primary caregiver, who may be incapacitated or unable to provide care during an emergency [62]. In addition, properly maintaining and practicing the household's emergency plan in various scenarios is especially important for people who have functional needs and require support to participate in everyday life [21,60].…”

Optimization of Nonambulant Mass Casualty Decontamination Protocols as Part of an Initial or Specialist Operational Response to Chemical Incidents

“…While there is a considerable body of evidence to support current dry (IOR) and wet (SOR) mass casualty decontamination procedures for ambulant casualties (4,5,7,(12)(13)(14), optimization or assessment of procedures for nonambulant casualties have not been adequately addressed (15). This present study has established that a new procedure for nonambulant disrobe and dry decontamination is relatively effective and can be completed within 3 min.…”