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Disaster Community

The impact of disasters on a community requires collaboration across the public health system, the medical care system, and the emergency response system. Behavioral and mental health resources must be integrated with public health and emergency response systems to address needs for triage, surge capacity, and health surveillance in order to best provide care for communities exposed to disasters. Examples in which this collaboration is essential include evacuee mental health and care and mental health and behavioral guidelines for response to a Pandemic Flu outbreak.

Community is broader than that which is defined by geography. Our nation’s military is a community that mobilizes around disaster and terrorism as well as response and recovery for community disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. The military community is affected by their involvement in disaster, especially during times of war. The impact of deployment on soldiers, military spouses and children is significant and many lives are permanently altered through serious injury or death. Military health is essential to sustain our nation’s responses to domestic and international disasters including armed conflict and war.

The workplace is also a community and one that was the target of 9/11. Improving workplace preparedness is an important imperative to prepare to embrace the challenges of human continuity as part of business continuity. Disasters including epidemics can result in altered workplace performance, absenteeism, presenteeism and disability. The larger the scale of a disaster, the greater potential there is for disruption of the community and workplace. Planning for resource distributions is important to preparing for the mental health consequences

Community resilience is a primary goal of preparation for disaster. Community leadership, community resources and functions, and the health care system in particular, are central to this response. Knowledge of a community’s resilience and vulnerability before a disaster or terrorist event, as well as understanding in real time the psychological responses to such an event, can enable leaders and medical experts to talk to the public, promote healthy behaviors, sustain the social fabric of the community, and facilitate recovery and resource distribution.

Public education and community leadership as part of disaster planning, response and addressing barriers to care is an important dimension and tool for community resilience. Funerals and memorials are part of the rebuilding of a community after disaster and can provide important psychological benefits and healing.