Management and leadership

United Nations defines disaster is the occurrence of a sudden or major misfortune which disrupts the basic fabric and normal functioning of society or community. In January 2010 earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince, Haiti caused> 200, 000 deaths thousands of injuries requiring immediate surgical interventions, and 1. 5 million internally displaced survivors. The earthquake destroyed most medical facilities in the city seriously preventing the ability to deliver immediate help. Community nurse can help assist with all types of care and prevention: Primary, secondary and tertiary. Primary Prevention: nurse will gather critical health supplies those needed for treating casualties, and preventing the spread of communicable diseases. Include sanitary, blankets, food, and water. Education is ongoing. Disaster can increase the transmission of communicable diseases through following mechanism: (1) overcrowding and poor sanitation in temporary resettlements (2) Disruption and the contamination of water supply, damage to sewerage system and power systems are common in natural disasters. Secondary Prevention: Is to decrease deleterious effect on individual and the community. Community Nurse Need to implement as soon as possible all public health measures, to reduce the risk of disease transmission. Isolate population who are infected use universal precautions. Supply safe drinking water and proper disposal of excreta to eliminate outbreak of gastroenteritis, typhoid and cholera. Provide adequate wound cleaning and treatment. Monitor nutrition status of the affected population. Tertiary prevention: Rehabilitation and restoration to meet long-term needs of individuals and the community after the disaster. The pattern of health needs will change, moving from casualty treatment to more routine primary health care. Priorities also will shift from health care towards environmental health measures. Survey of all public water supplies should be made, ongoing psych evaluation. Community health nurse continue to assist with individual in need of help and assessing the situation. Provide programs that teach people about stress responses. Three proposal intervention falls under phase 3, gathering health supplies, cleaning wounds and rehabilitation was the interventions mentioned on Grand Canyon diary. I would like to work with AmeriCares agency, within 48 hour of deadly January 2010 earthquake in Haiti AmeriCares arrived airlifting $6 million in crucial medicines that made lifesaving deference to countless numbers of innocent people trapped in the rubble and chaos. AmeriCares ongoing aid to Haiti helps immediately and contributes to lasting change More children are being vaccinated against the threat of disease. Disaster are of different types which can happen any time anywhere, in the World causing tremendous after effects such as loss of human life economical imbalances, food scarcity, epidemics, forced relocation of population. The goal of community health nurse is to achieve the best possible level of health for the people and the community involved in the disaster. Reference: WHO: Coping with natural disasters, the role of local health personnel and community: 1989 WHO. Alexander David Principles of emergency planning and management 2002: harpenden ; Terra publishing : pp1-1036