Preventative Nursing During the Haitian Earthquake Disaster

Preventative Nursing During the Haitian Earthquake Disaster

When natural disasters strike affluent nations, such as the recent round of hurricanes to batter America's Eastern seaboard or the tsunami that inundated Japan in 2011, there are typically established healthcare delivery and preventative care systems in place to prevent the spread of disease among those who have been victimized. While property may be razed to rubble, and casualties will inevitably occur during the disaster's impact, the nursing infrastructure within industrialized nations is enough to prevent the pervasive, epidemic-like conditions capable of claiming untold thousands of additional lives. For so-called "third-world" nations, however, the arrival of nature's fury is often only just the beginning of a prolonged period of misery and suffering. In Haiti for example, where a massive earthquake leveled entire communities in 2010, masses of displaced victims have been forced to seek shelter in squalid refugee camps that, without the presence of qualified, competent nursing care, have since devolved into virulent breeding grounds for deadly illnesses like cholera, dysentery, typhoid, and shigellosis (Romero, 2010). In addition to the scourge of preventable diseases spreading due to a lack of nursing infrastructure, mental health experts have also observed a disturbing rise in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) throughout Haiti's refugee population, many of whom lost family members, dwellings, and even limbs during the chaotic aftermath of the 2010 earthquake (Davidson). By answering the following three questions regarding the role of primary nursing care within a declared disaster zone, a greater appreciation for the importance of administering preventative healthcare to a population that has recently been ravaged by the random fury of nature's power.

1.) Propose one example of a nursing intervention related to the disaster from each of the following levels: primary prevention, secondary prevention, and tertiary prevention. Provide innovative examples that have not been discussed by a previous student.

2.) Under which phase of the disaster do the three proposed interventions fall? Explain why you chose that phase.

To ensure that primary preventative care is provided throughout Haiti's refugee population, it is important to consider that most "American and Haitian public health specialists there consider the diseases stemming from the buildup of human waste in the camps as possibly the most pressing health threat" (Romero, 2010). To prevent patients from contracting water-borne pathogens from the presence of raw sewage contamination, a concerted effort must be made on the part of aid organizations to distribute and assemble latrines and portable toilets, so that the feces and waste matter responsible for spreading cholera and other deadly diseases can be disposed of properly. Secondary preventative care can be achieved through the establishment of nursing aid stations throughout refugee camps and afflicted neighborhoods. By providing access to routine checkups, many treatable diseases can be identified before they become deadly, and through simple vaccination sessions thousands of lives can be saved. Finally, tertiary prevention must be used to isolate those patients who have contracted the most deadly conditions, such as HIV / AIDS, cholera, and infected wounds, because one part of assuring primary care for Haiti's refugee population is the identification, quarantine, and treatment of those who have already contracted serious illness or injury.

3.) With what people or agencies would you work in facilitating the proposed interventions and why?