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A Functional Needs Approach to Emergency Planning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 July 2014

Rebecca Zod ,
Robin Fick-Osborne  and
Eleanor B. Peters
Rebecca Zod*
Affiliation:
Washington University in St Louis, School of Arts and Sciences, St Louis, Missouri
Robin Fick-Osborne
Affiliation:
Saint Louis County Department of Health, St Louis, Missouri
Eleanor B. Peters
Affiliation:
Saint Louis County Department of Health, St Louis, Missouri
*
Correspondence and reprints to Rebecca Zod, 1331 Cinnamon Dr, Fort Washington, PA 19034 (e-mail: beccazod@gmail.com).
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Abstract

Objective

This study was conducted to test the ability of the St Louis County Department of Health to efficiently dispense medication to individuals with functional needs during a public health emergency and develop new guidelines for future emergency planning. Historically, people with functional needs have been vulnerable in emergency situations, and emergency planners are responsible for creating equal access for mass prophylaxis events.

Methods

Measures to create access for individuals with functional needs were tested in a countywide exercise in which 40 volunteers with functional needs walked through an open point of dispensing location to collect medication as if it were a real emergency. Actions were informed by representatives from the functional needs community in the St Louis area.

Results

During the exercise, medications were successfully dispensed to all participants. Many participants offered feedback for future program design.

Conclusions

Outcomes indicated the importance of working closely with the community organizations that serve people with functional needs in designing appropriate response measures, providing sensitivity training to staff members, employing useful technology, and using visual and verbal cues. The lessons learned from this exercise apply to emergency planning nationwide, as planning efforts for persons with functional needs still lag significantly.(Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2014;0:1–9)

Keywords

post-exposure prophylaxisvulnerable populationsemergency preparedness
Type
Concepts in Disaster Medicine
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 8 , Issue 4 , August 2014 , pp. 301 - 309
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2014 

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