Develop a disaster recovery plan to reduce health disparities and improve access to community services after a disaster. Then develop a brochure, storyboard, or poster communicating the plan for the local system, city officials, and the disaster relief team.
Nurses perform a variety of roles and their responsibilities as healthcare providers extend to the community. The decisions we make daily and in times of crisis often involve the balancing of human rights with medical necessities, equitable access to services, legal and ethical mandates, and financial constraints. In the event of a major accident or natural disaster, many issues can complicate decisions concerning the needs of an individual or group, including understanding and upholding rights and desires, mediating conflict, and applying established ethical and legal standards of nursing care. As a nurse, you must be knowledgeable about disaster preparedness and recovery to safeguard those in your care. As an advocate, you are also accountable for promoting equitable services and quality care for the diverse community.
A comprehensive recovery plan, guided by the Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) framework and the National Incident Management System approach is essential to help ensure everyone’s safety. The unique needs of residents must be assessed to lessen health disparities and improve access to equitable services after a disaster.
Recovery efforts depend on the appropriateness of the plan, the extent to which key stakeholders have been prepared, quality of the communication, and the allocation of available resources. In a time of cost containment, when personnel and resources may be limited, the needs of residents must be weighed carefully against available resources.
In this assessment, you are a community task force member who is responsible for developing a disaster recovery plan for the community you have focused on in earlier assessments using the CERC for your crisis communication plan, which you will present to city officials and the disaster relief team. You will use the community from your windshield survey OR you may select a community from the document provided in this assessment.
Note: Complete the assessments in this course in the order in which they are presented.
For this assessment, you will use the community from your windshield survey OR you may select a community from the Assessment 3 Supplement: Disaster Recovery Plan [PDF]. You will then develop a brochure, storyboard, or poster communicating the plan for the local system city officials, and the disaster relief team.
Use the following steps to gather the information you need to create your disaster recovery plan. Then follow the grading criteria as the guide for what to include and how to structure your brochure, storyboard, or poster.
Develop a disaster recovery plan for the community that will lessen health disparities and improve access to services after a disaster. Refer back to the community chosen for your health promotion plan.
Assess community needs.
Consider resources, personnel, budget, and community makeup.
Identify the people accountable for implementation of the plan and describe their roles.
Focus on specific Healthy People 2030 objectives.
Include a timeline for the recovery effort.
Focus on the following areas in your crisis communication plan:
Information gathering.
This is critical not only to promote situational awareness but also to receive feedback on messages and how they are received and interpreted. Media monitoring and analysis, including social media, is a central function because the media remains a source of timely information during any crisis. Close coordination with other response agencies and partners, and their public information officers (PIOs), to gather the most current information is also critical.
Use the demographic data and specifics related to the disaster to identify the needs of the community and develop a recovery plan. Consider physical, emotional, cultural, and financial needs of the entire community.
Information dissemination.
This includes using a variety of channels to reach multiple audiences. These activities include general media relations, working with designated spokespersons, organizing news conferences, and providing briefings and updates. Inquiries and questions from the general public must also be addressed and should be documented through contact logs. In addition, officials and other key leaders must be briefed. These information dissemination activities should extend to web support and social media.
Operation support.
This involves a variety of communication activities, including addressing special needs and multilingual audiences through translation and other services. Facilities’ support activities involve ensuring sufficient communications capacity to support operations.
Liaisons.
They can provide two-way communication and coordination with key stakeholders and partners. Close coordination is necessary to achieve an effective response and create consistent messages.
Provide support for your position.
Include in your plan contact tracing of the homeless, disabled, displaced community members, migrant workers, and those who have hearing impairment or English as a second language in the event of severe tornadoes.
Develop a brochure, storyboard, or poster of your disaster recovery plan. You can use one of the free templates available on the Brochure Design Templates web page, storyboard, or poster templates.
The requirements outlined below correspond to the grading criteria in the scoring guide, so be sure to address each point. Read the performance-level descriptions for each criterion in the scoring guide to see how your work will be assessed.
Describe determinants of health and cultural, social, and economic barriers that impact community safety, health, and disaster recovery efforts.
Consider the interrelationships among these factors.
Explain how your proposed disaster recovery plan will lessen health disparities and improve access to community services.
Consider principles of social justice and cultural sensitivity with respect to ensuring health equity for individuals, families, and aggregates in the community.
Explain how health and governmental policy impacts disaster recovery efforts in a community.
Consider the implications of legislation for community members such as the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, and 2018 Disaster Recovery Reform Act (DRRA).
Consider trace-mapping the community progress during the recovery phase. (You can consult the resources in the Contact Tracing reading list for more information about contact trace-mapping.)
Present specific, evidence-based strategies to overcome communication barriers and enhance interprofessional collaboration to improve disaster recovery efforts in a community using the CERC framework.
Consider how your proposed strategies will affect members of the disaster relief team, individuals, families, and aggregates in the community.
Identify evidence that supports your strategies.
Organize content with clear purpose/goals and with relevant and evidence-based sources (published within 5 years).
Make sure your choice of a brochure, storyboard, or poster is easy to read and error-free.
Develop your assessment with a specific purpose and audience in mind.
Adhere to scholarly and disciplinary writing standards and APA formatting requirements.
Supporting Evidence
Cite at least two articles from peer-reviewed journals or professional industry publications within the 5 past years to support your plan.
Include data from the CDC, United States Census Bureau, and other government agencies.
