Disaster Preparedness Guidelines

Part I – LPN Role

Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) play a vital role in disaster response by supporting the healthcare team in multiple ways. They provide basic care, perform triaging, administer medications, and monitor vital signs in highly stressful conditions. LPNs also offer emotional support to the affected at emergency shelters or field hospitals and facilitate volume management of patients so that resources are used efficiently. In the example of hurricane response, the LPN can handle wound care for minor injuries to free up the RN and physicians to attend to critical cases. LPNs are essential due to their practical skills and emotional care, which help stabilize patients in often chaotic settings with the assurance of continuity (Flaubert et al., 2021).

Part II – The Disaster

I chose Hurricane Ian for this paper, which, in 2022, was declared a disaster by FEMA. It tore through Florida and left a trail of destruction, displacing thousands. To be blunt, this has much to do with the fact that hurricanes have become relatively common occurrences within the United States, and understanding how to prepare for them is crucial. The FEMA website emphasizes equity and language access as the principal considerations that come into play during such emergencies since these guarantee the timely delivery of information and resources to affected individuals. An emergency of the character of Hurricane Ian thus provides an ideal test case because it was unique concerning where a likely stress factor was considered: non-English speaking residents and those with disabilities (FEMA, 2024).

Part III – The Shelter

This shelter would be specifically meant for victims of Hurricane Ian and would need to have varied facilities and spaces available for accessibility, including family spaces. The barriers to access, however, are minimal transportation access for low-income residents and not knowing one’s way due to a language barrier. Services such as translation, access to various languages through shelter staff, and the creation of separate sections for families or those with special needs could be put in place to enhance equity and inclusion within shelters. These actions would ensure that all community members are treated equally and fully involved in recovery. Further, according to Florida (2024), reflecting diversity, equity, and inclusion, these interventions aim to respect cultural differences while allowing people concerned with disaster to stay in an encouraging environment.

References

FEMA. (2024, June 14). Harnessing Knowledge for Impact: Hurricane Ian MAT Report | FEMA.gov. Www.fema.gov. https://www.fema.gov/case-study/harnessing-knowledge-impact-hurricane-ian-mat-report

Flaubert, J. L., Menestrel, S. L., Williams, D. R., & Wakefield, M. K. (2021). Nurses in disaster preparedness and public health emergency response. In www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. National Academies Press (US). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK573904/

Florida, D. R. (2024, May 21). Know Your Rights Fact Sheet: Disaster Shelter Accessibility. Disabilityrightsflorida.org. https://disabilityrightsflorida.org/publications/publication_info/know_your_rights_disaster_shelter_access

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

We’ll write everything from scratch

Competency: Identify the Practical Nurse’s role in disaster preparedness.

Transferable Skill: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

In a Word document, include the required information listed for Parts I, II, and III.

Part I – LPN Role

• Describe how LPNs contribute to the healthcare team during a disaster, including examples. Use the textbooks in the course materials folder as resources for this assignment.

Part II – The Disaster
Navigate to the FEMA website, FEMA Declared Disasters and choose a natural disaster.

• Use the FEMA Declared Disaster website to search and filter disasters based on state and type. Also, click on the tabs across the top, Disasters and Assistance and Emergency Management, to locate current disasters and examine emergency preparedness for needs such as equity and language.
• Describe the disaster chosen and include a rationale for the selection.
  

  Disaster Preparedness Guidelines

Part III – The Shelter
Use these websites to respond to the statements below related to the disaster selected.

Disasterassistance.gov Immediate Needs: Emergency Shelter

Rasmussen Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Guide

• Reflect on the disaster you have chosen and describe the type of community shelter needed.
• Identify barriers to access to the community shelter you selected, including specific examples and rationales for your choices.
• Describe interventions the community shelter could implement to provide equity and inclusion for a diverse population, including specific examples and rationales for your choices.

Submit your completed assignment by following the directions linked below. Please check the Course Calendar for specific due dates.

Save your assignment as a Microsoft Word document. (Mac users, please remember to append the “.docx” extension to the filename.) The name of the file should be your first initial and last name, followed by an underscore and the name of the assignment, and an underscore and the date. An example is shown below:

• Jstudent_exampleproblem_101504