New York State Public Health System Response to Hurricane Sandy: Lessons From the Field

Abstract

Health departments should ensure that emergency planning includes protocols to coordinate backup staffing, delineation of services that can be halted during disasters, clear guidelines to coordinate resources across agencies, and training for transitioning into unfamiliar disaster response roles. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;10:443-453).

Superstorm Sandy’s impact on the provision of WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children) services in New York State

“…No published assessments were identified for the effects of natural disasters on WIC programmes. However, several studies have examined the impact of Sandy on NYSDOH and LHD (9)(10)(11) , with similar results to the current assessment. In those studies, the public health agency preparedness capabilities 'emergency operations coordination' and 'information sharing' contained the greatest number of strengths, and challenges were commonly related to 'emergency operations coordination' and 'environmental health protection' (9,10) .…”

“…However, the impact of Sandy on routine public health services such as tuberculosis control programmes (3) and services for injection drug users (4) has been previously described. We have previously studied the impact of Sandy on various parts of the public health system in New York (9)(10)(11) . This research was funded in 2013 by the CDC to identify ways to improve preparation, response and recovery efforts for future disasters.…”

New York State Public Health System Response to Hurricane Sandy: An Analysis of Survey Feedback

“…18 Key words not fitting clearly into one of these CDC Capabilities were sorted into 5 additional study-defined capabilities and a miscellaneous category. 14…”

“…3,[10][11][12] Other studies on the response of the NYS Department of Health (NYSDOH) and NYS local health departments (LHDs) to Hurricane Sandy revealed the disruption of communication, challenges with managing emergency response shelters, and the need for increased coordination, a process for information sharing, and increased training and preparedness. 13,14 These studies analyzed feedback from NYS public health executives collected through emergency reports 13 and interviews. 14 National workforce studies have found significant differences between executives and lower-level health department staff in the importance that they place on workforce skills.…”

“…13,14 These studies analyzed feedback from NYS public health executives collected through emergency reports 13 and interviews. 14 National workforce studies have found significant differences between executives and lower-level health department staff in the importance that they place on workforce skills. 15 Thus, the current study used a survey to ascertain from a broader level of public health staff their perceptions of the impact of Hurricane Sandy on their work and their agencies, their current training and preparedness, and their preparedness recommendations for future disasters.…”