Mental Health Care Provided by Red Cross - Essay Example

Mental Health Care provided by Red Cross This paper attempts to collect, collate and streamline material from five different articles which related to the mental health care services provided by the Red Cross association, particularly in the wake of disaster relief services. The five given articles incorporate different viewpoints, perspectives and backgrounds, looking at the issue from an academic, structural, operational and functional viewpoint. The attempt is to gather the information in a logically structured and coherent manner that illustrates the importance and relevance of providing mental health care by the Red Cross association. The five different articles utilized in this paper are from a variety of backgrounds, ranging from the purely medical and scientific to reports by media professionals and concerned community members. The given paper aims to streamline and narrow the research scope and clearly flesh out a more coherent and viable research question. Introduction The Red Cross, founded in 1919 has been providing emergency relief services all over the world in all manners of disasters since almost a century, but it was not until 1989 that the need for addressing the mental health needs of disaster survivors was tabled seriously. Over the subsequent years Red Cross mental health services have developed and improved by leaps and bounds, evolving to provide both the victims of disasters as well as the workers and volunteers who help them to deal with the immense mental trauma and stress experienced by survivors and witnesses of such disasters. Red Cross mental health care has developed to provide a wide variety of cross-sectional mental care help to all types of affected parties, presenting a cross-functional and highly versatile approach to mental health care needs of all affected parties, whether victims or helpers. Planning for Disaster: A new community outreach program for Mental Health centers, Don M. Hartsough, 1982 Summary Mental health care begins with an assessment of the patients’ needs and requirements, this is often a complicated requirement as survivors of disaster victims are generally unaware of any mental trauma to themselves and instead focus on the more physical aspect of their wellbeing. Their care needs don’t usually immediately turn to mental health services (M. Hartsough, Don, Planning for Disaster: A new community outreach program for Mental Health centers, 1982). There is definitely a need for a mental health care outreach program that are linked to the disaster relief efforts. Such strategies need to be intrinsically related to three main components of disaster relief such as: Helpers, services, recipients and locations (Golan, 1970). This type of mental health outreach requires a systematic and planned approach that addresses the main areas of concerns in providing such services. M. Hartsough in his paper ‘Planning for disaster’ identifies four main areas that need to be addressed in order to provide efficient and quick mental healthcare support to survivors of disaster trauma: Lack of external support: This kind of barrier is usually encountered wherein there is no institutionalized support for disaster relief programs and the same extends to legislative or infrastructural backing, in that there is none. Information lacunae: A major factor in the lack of mental health care is the lack of proper information and training to disaster relief workers in regards to the mental health care needs of disaster survivors. Relief workers are usually well trained only in providing immediate and physical support to survivors but there is no significant training provided in regards to mental trauma. Lack of intervention infrastructure: There needs to be a concrete and substantial intervention management program based around the needs specific requirement of victims and geared towards providing immediate relief and speedy intervention before the effects of mental trauma are irreversibly imbibed. Lack of guidelines in regards to long-range disaster response. This is perhaps one of the most significant barriers to providing efficient mental health care to victims is the actual absence of any such guidelines, especially in regards to long term planning. Disaster relief for mental trauma is most often limited to short term, case by case basis and there exists no permanent long term guidelines to formulate effective and efficient planning mechanisms. Assessing Mental health needs following disaster, Dr. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, Dr. Susan E. Hamilton Summary Following the discussion in regards to infrastructural and operational needs of providing mental healthcare to trauma victims, we turn to Dr. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie and Dr. Susan E. Hamilton’s ‘Assessing Mental health needs following disaster’. Dr. Ritchie and Hamilton provide a detailed and exhaustive checklist of factors and variables that need to be checked following a traumatic or disastrous event that help analyze and assess the mental healthcare needs of survivors of such trauma in order to provide efficient, relevant and effective counseling and relief. The authors’ analysis begins with the assessment of medical and physical needs before going on to further relief. The checklist of physical and medical needs includes analyzing and checking some immediate, relevant variables such as: Location and scope of disaster, Housing and shelter needs and availability, Food supplies, Number of wounded and resources, Public health issues, Tally of casualties, Tally of wounded and affected families, Rescue efforts etc As can be seen above, the list is focused on gathering an accurate and unbiased picture of the immediate needs of the affected population and assessing the resources and requirements needed to secure those very same needs and requirements. Following the assessment of physical needs, the list of psychological assessments is to be made which includes: Provision of basic services, raising community morale, Monitoring psychological trauma and damage, Screening and treatment for mental trauma, Long term human service needs, Information dissemination and risk assessment, Service provider training, Capacity enhancement, Assessment of mental care requirements, Stress relief of emergency responders and relief providers, Familiarity of local population with relief process, Previous history of community with similar disasters etc. Media coverage management and representation of trauma and loss, Indications of repeated damage or imminent danger associated with disaster recovery and relief, Assessment of indirect effects of relief and rescue missions on local community and the imminent threat of uncertainty. Sustainable Community Mental Health: Psychological First Aid in Humanitarian Emergencies, Thomas F. Ditzler, Patricia R. Hastings, Richard B. Delon Summary Disaster relief workers are generally highly trained and possessing very competent skills in regards to their particular specialty, however when it comes to mental healthcare very few disaster relief responders are trained to handle the kind of unique needs of mental trauma survivors. This is in stark contrast to the needs of disaster survivors whose mental and emotional distress is considerable and requires concrete and significant effort to counteract the effects of such extreme trauma. The paper by Thomas F. Ditzler, Patricia R. Hastings and Richard B. Delon titled ‘Sustainable Community Mental Health: Psychological First Aid in Humanitarian Emergencies’ deals with precisely this lacunae in the training of emergency responders, based on 8 core actions that form the basis of psychological first aid training. The basis of these actions form the core of psychological first aid training that needs to be provided to emergency responders: Establish compassionate, non-intrusive, human contact with survivors, Providing an environment of physical and emotional comfort and safety, Calming the distressed emotional states of victims and survivors, Provide a connection to support networks such as counselors, therapists, qualified professionals, Supporting positive and healthy coping while at the same time observing for any signs of negativity and harmful coping behavior, Form recovery links for therapeutic recovery. The above mentioned steps form a general outline for emergency responders that may be enhanced to include psychological first aid depending upon the type of disaster being combatted. The specifics of the healing process might be changed in accordance with the specific needs of the affected population and certain steps may be omitted or added in accordance with the population needs and requirements. Psychosocial Care for Adult and Child Survivors of the Tsunami Disaster in India, Susan M. Becker Summary The following paper and the subsequent one are both case studies based on real life, on the ground training and experience of natural disasters, specifically that of the tsunami in south Asia of 2004. This paper is an eye-witnessed account of the on ground realities of the tsunami relief efforts that were covered by the media, presented by Lynn Applebaum of the APR, covering five weeks of the coverage of the disaster relief and rescue effort. The paper provides crucial insight into how timely information dissemination and coverage of happenings is crucial towards a balanced and accurate assessment of the requirements on the ground The paper follows a five week roundup that begins with Leslie Gottlieb, the communications director of the American Red Cross formulation of a crisis plan in the aftermath of the December 2004 Tsunami. The first week of the tsunami was marked by a massive media inundation of the ARC offices for information regarding the relief efforts of the tsunami. Gottlieb started communication plans with setting up of a website in multi-lingual formats providing a donation and relief gateway, along with setting up of call desks to handle the massive requests for information and news. The subsequent weeks saw the ARC emerge as the information leader in providing relevant information and news to the various media outlets and other sister relief organizations, focusing more on material donations and the needs of the affected population. Gottlieb manufactured a successful propaganda and promotion campaign that focused on monetary donations. During this time the ARC was also faced with the need to educate the media and the public in relation to what the organization actually needed. The following weeks saw the ARC communication campaign focusing on survivor stories focusing on individuals and ‘miracle rescues’ to raise public awareness and positive publicity regarding the organizations efforts thus securing future donations for any further disasters. Encounter with disaster: Looking back at crucial elements in tsunami relief efforts, Applebaum, Lynn Summary Following the above overview of how effective communication and dissemination can provide timely care and relief to disaster survivors, several organizations keenly entered the field to provide help and care to tsunami survivors. Dr. M. Becker wrote one such paper titled ‘Psychological care for Adult and Child survivors of the Tsunami disaster in India’. The paper focused on the psychological aspects of rehabilitation efforts, particularly focused on the initiatives of public health institutions. The report is based primarily on the efforts and observations of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences in Bangalore, India. The rehabilitation efforts were based on a ‘train-the-trainer’ model that focused on dissemination of information and training efforts, preparing professionals in the field of psychological health care and counseling, particularly to the survivors of severe natural disasters, the primary sufferers of which are mostly the impoverished populations of developing countries. The relief efforts in the wake of the tsunami have suggested that long term reconstruction efforts will be greatly affected by the mental state of the surviving population, not only in terms of motivation and will to live but also in terms of psychological health, post-traumatic stress disorder and resulting mental health complications. Conclusion The above mentioned papers provide a comprehensive and coherent look into the needs, requirements and issues faced by the respondents of disaster relief forces and emergency workers in regards to mental health care and psychological first aid. M. Hartsough, Don, in his paper ‘Planning for Disaster: A new community outreach program for Mental Health centers, 1982,’provides a historical context outlining the difficulties and obstacles faced by any institution or programs of emergency mental healthcare. This was followed up by Dr. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie and Dr. Susan E. Hamilton’s ‘Assessing Mental health needs following disaster’ that helped provide a guiding outline for any assessment of psychological care, providing a rough guide and outline of how and what to look for in terms of providing mental healthcare. These steps were further filtered and polished in The paper by Thomas F. Ditzler, Patricia R. Hastings and Richard B. Delon titled ‘Sustainable Community Mental Health: Psychological First Aid in Humanitarian Emergencies’ that provided a more concrete and definite outline of steps in regards to psychological first aid and finally these principles were demonstrated in real life and on the ground by Lynn Applebaum and Dr. M. Becker in their analyses of the tsunami relief efforts of 2004. In light of the above summaries and arguments the centrality of providing a fast, efficient and timely intervention in terms of disaster management and first responders is undeniable. An efficient and cross-sectional approach needs to be taken to provide an institutionalized functional approach to psychological first aid. There are a number of structural, functional and operational issues that also need to be addressed before the problem of mental healthcare delivery systems can be addressed but hopefully this is an issue that is gaining greater spotlight and prominence and will be addressed, especially considering the fact that mental healthcare has long term repercussions and consequences when it comes to disaster recovery and renovation References: M. Hartsough, Don Planning for Disaster: A new community outreach program for Mental Health centers, 1982 Dr. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, Dr. Susan E. Hamilton Assessing Mental health needs following disaster Thomas F. Ditzler, Patricia R. Hastings, Richard B. Delon Sustainable Community Mental Health: Psychological First Aid in Humanitarian Emergencies Susan M. Becker Psychosocial Care for Adult and Child Survivors of the Tsunami Disaster in India Applebaum, Lynn Encounter with disaster: Looking back at crucial elements in tsunami relief efforts Read More