New York State Public Health System Response to Hurricane Sandy: An Analysis of Emergency Reports. (2nd December 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Shipp Hilts, Asante; Mack, Stephanie; Eidson, Millicent; Nguyen, Trang; Birkhead, Guthrie S.
• Is Part Of: Disaster medicine and public health preparedness. Volume 10:Number 3(2016:Jun.)
• Page Start: 308
• Page End: 313
• Publication Date: 2015-12-02
• Subjects: disaster planning, -- emergency preparedness, -- hurricane, -- public health, -- public health practice; Disaster medicine -- Periodicals; Emergency management -- Planning -- Periodicals; Public health -- Periodicals; 363.34
• DOI: 10.1017/dmp.2015.142
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1935-7893

Abstract

Abstract: Objective: Analyzing Hurricane Sandy emergency reports to assess the New York State (NYS) public health system response will help inform and improve future disaster preparedness and response. Methods: Qualitative analysis of NYS Department of Health (NYSDOH) and Nassau and Suffolk County local health department (LHD) emergency reports was conducted. Three after-action reports and 48 situation reports were reviewed, grouped by key words and sorted into 16 Public Health Preparedness Capabilities. Within each capability, key words were labeled as strengths, challenges, or recommendations. Results: The NYSDOH capability most cited as a strength was successful emergency operations coordination, eg, interagency conference calls (27.4% of 1681 strengths). The most cited challenge was environmental health protection, eg, mold and oil spills (28% of 706 challenges). The LHD capability most cited both as a strength (46.7% of 30 strengths) and as a challenge (32.5% of 123 challenges) was emergency operations coordination. Strengths were exemplified by sharing local resources and challenges by insufficient memorandums of understanding for coordination. Conclusions: Post-disaster emergency reports should be systematically reviewed to highlight both successes and areas for improvement. Future studies should prioritize collecting feedback from a wider spectrum of public health and service provider staff for planning of preparedness and response activities. ( Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness . 2015;10:308–313)