The public health department’s role during natural disasters

REPLY1

The public health department’s role during natural disasters is to provide practical assistance in time to disaster victims to facilitate relief measures and rehabilitation services. The health care personnel possess unique skills in handling all types of disasters. It is the function of public health workers to assess disaster victims and determine the extent of their injuries (Murray, Aitsi-Selmi, & Blanchard, 2015).  Since their cases are of urgency, the public health department is tasked with prioritizing their cases. Additionally, they collaborate with other departments in the hospital care organization to provide emotional and material support to the disaster victims. Counseling sessions and programs are also conducted by public health professionals to ensure that victims retain their emotional stability (Khorram-Manesh, 2020). Preventive and acute care needs are also offered to the disaster victims by the public health care personnel. It is also the role of healthcare workers to report to government authorities the number of disaster victims, the extent of their injuries, and the support they require while taking medication. In addition to that, public health workers are supposed to ensure that the emergency alert and response team is always ready to accommodate disaster victims.

REPLY2

The public health role of preparing for and responding to emergencies has expanded in the face of massive impacts from recent disasters. The application of epidemiology in disaster settings, also known as disaster epidemiology, can provide actionable information for use by policymakers, planners, incident commanders, decision-makers, and affected community members. A main component of public health department is safety. Public health department makes reference to all the possible strategies that can be implemented to assure the safety of workers while performing their jobs. The purpose of public health department is to prevent hazards and reduce potential harmful incidents that can occur in the workplace. The strategies implemented can include safety prevention measures such as the use of personal protective equipment or the establishment of health and safety policies.