The Role of Emergency Medical Services - Essay Example

Emergency medical service, natural disaster and climate change xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Name xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Course xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Lecturer xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Date Outline Emergence Medical Services Thesis: emergency medical services have a role to deal in the effects of climate change and natural disaster 1. It is obvious that climate change and natural disaster results to human sufferings. The role of the medical emergency services is significant in such situation. 2. They offer various services that include a) Medical care It is the first role that the medical personnel do. The victims are given medical attention while the dead bodies are taken to the mortuary. b) Providing shelter and addressing public health concerns Repairing and reconstructing- assist in repairing and constructing of shelters Financial assistance- they provide financial assistance that is needed fr housing before the houses are complete Shelter-victims are provided with temporary shelter Preventive and control measures c) Food, water and nutrition Monitoring food supplies Food distribution – they work together with other organization in distributing food and water to the victims Nutrition -assist in providing nutrition information to relief organizations and victims The role of emergency medical services in deals with the effects of climate changes and natural disasters Introduction Over the past two decades, the number of natural disasters that have been recorded has been seen to double from 200 to over 400 per annum. This is due to the drastic occurrence of climatic changes that have occurred over the years. Floods, droughts and hurricanes are the most common climatic disasters, while earthquakes and volcanoes are the most noticeable geological disasters (Abbott 2004). Emergency medical service is a type of service that aims at providing transport and out-of-hospital acute medical care to the disaster victims with injuries or illness. Natural disasters that are as a result of climatic changes occur in the form of floods and drought. In times of drought, there are water shortages due to the prolonged dry spells. Shortage in food supply is experienced due to inadequate rainfall. Frequent flooding destroys the water catchment areas by destroying the river banks. This also leads to population displacement and the underdevelopment of the area that has been affected. In the occurrence of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions many deaths and injuries are caused. Livelihoods are destroyed and economies damaged. There is need therefore for emergency medical services for the victims. They are provided with medical care before being transferred to hospitals for specialized treatment. The emergency services supply the victims with food and provide shelters. A. Medical care On the arrival at the location of disaster, the first task of the medical response is searching for and rescuing the victims’ bodies which are caught in the basement or debris. Once they are located, their injuries are assessed so that they can be provided with proper treatment. The most critically and traumatized patients are given first priority over those with minor injuries .The patients are provided with medical care, and surgical stabilization after which they are closely monitored until they are evacuated to locations where they receive appropriate medical care (Bame et al 2012). For the victims with chemical injuries, pediatric care requirements or contamination specialty personnel are deployed to them. The victims that are experiencing excessive bleeding are provided with first aid measures since uncontrolled bleeding would lead to the victim’s death. Ambulances, public, private and other means of transport are provided for the movement of the seriously ill and injured patients who have a high probability of surviving to areas where definitive medical attention is available. For casualties, treatment can be delayed, since they do not need immediate assistance. For instance, victims with uncomplicated burns and those that require time consuming surgeries can have their treatment delayed. They as well coordinate patient reception in the health units and the hospitals where they are being admitted. In addition to that, the patients are provided with medical supplies. They include biological, blood and pharmaceutical products. This is to ensure that their normal health is restored (Tierney et al 2001). Patients with serious emergencies are provided with in-hospital care. Where the disaster was major and deaths occurred, the emergency medical personnel assist in victim identification by forensic dental, finger print among others. They also assist with the preparation, processing and disposition of remains. In case of abandoned and injured animals, they assist by delivering health care. Patients who witnessed traumatizing moments like witnessing the death of their loved ones suffer mental disorder and are enrolled into rehabilitation programs. Cumberland (2008) argues that this is because traumatic events often lead to a variety of emotional reactions as the victim attempts to come to terms with the traumatizing events. Such symptoms call for professional assistance for if untreated or unaddressed could lead to acute stress disorder. B. Providing shelter and addressing public health concerns After a natural disaster has occurred, be it an earthquake, floods or a volcano, it causes massive destruction of property. Buildings collapse, shelters are destroyed and the victims are left homeless and in need of emergency sheltering. There is need therefore to construct new homes for the victims. Repairing and reconstructing The medical personnel assist in the repairing and renovation of the destroyed buildings as well as replacing the totally destroyed homes. Where homes have totally been destroyed, the medical teams provide funds that are used towards constructing of new disaster-resistant homes for the victims (Owens et al 2005). This is to ensure that such houses will not be easily destroyed in case of a natural disaster and costs will therefore be minimized. Financial assistance Where rebuilding of homes cannot be attained on a timely basis, the medical teams offer the victims financial support for rental homes. They can also opt to make direct payments to the landlords of such houses (Abolghasemi et al 2006). Sheltering These are temporary housing units given to the victims as they wait for the repairing and reconstructions of their homes. Depending on the magnitude of the disaster, there may be need for special shelters for the victims with special needs. Motels rooms may be rented so as to provide temporary shelter for the victims as they wait for the arrangement of better housing. Special structures are also made for the pets and animals. Wilson et al (2010) however, note that providing houses to the victims not only provides them with safety but it ensures that the risk of spreading communicable diseases is reduced. This because, where there is crowding and mass displacement of people who have no clean water shelter and proper sanitation there’s a high risk of communicable disease outbreak. Establishing adequate hygiene protocols as well as health activities and controlling the outbreak of endemic diseases are among the health concerns that the health personnel next focuses on. The common epidemic diseases include diarrhea, measles and respiratory infections. Preventive and control measures The medical teams ensure that, the patient’s access primary care health services so as to prevent further spreading of the diseases. In case of a measles outbreak, children under the age of 15 should be immunized. Tetanus and Diphtheria vaccines are administered to the persons that were injured during the earthquake. The medical teams ensure that adequate supply of water as well as proper sanitation is provided so as to prevent air-borne and water-borne diseases from occurring (Gebbies and Qureshi 2002). Awareness of the disease outbreaks is ensured and is important for the health of the victims. The victims are provided with insecticide –impregnated mosquito nets for malaria vector control. The medical teams offer the victims education on observing general health hygiene. In addition, personal hygiene is encouraged in order to promote health during disaster. The importance of hand washing with soap as a way of protecting the individuals against diseases is emphasized during the education programs. This should be observed especially after using the toilet, before and after contact with wounds, after cleaning and disinfecting environmental services (Cumberland 2008). In order to ensure that airborne diseases are not spread, the medical teams take certain precautionary measures. They include, placing of the infected individuals in isolated areas, proper ventilation is enhanced so as to allow air flow, not recirculation air that’s from the isolated zone with the other shelters unless after filtering has been cdone prior to the circulation. Food safety is a crucial aspect as well in the prevention of diseases during disaster. Ways in which food safety is ensured include separating cooked and raw food, observing cleanliness, cooking thoroughly and consuming safe water and raw material. C. Food, Water and nutrition Monitoring food supplies One of the effects felt as a result of natural disaster and climate change is a decrease of food and water supplies. It is obvious that food and water shortage and poor nutrition are immediate health consequences of natural disaster and climate change. The existing food stocks may be wiped out and disruption of the distributing systems result to delay or no delivery of food. In addition, the water system may be destroyed. As such, people are prone to starvation and poor feeding habits that may result to malnutrition. Therefore, there is a need for the medical personnel to assess the availability of food supplies immediately after the disaster, determine the nutrition requirements of the victims involved in the disaster, calculate the daily food requirements and check the nutritional states of the victims. It is important to note that in offering these services, the medical personnel seek help from other organizations that are involved in disaster management (Barret & Maxwell 2005). In addition, the organization in the community and the relevant local authorities also assist in monitoring food supplies in the area. Of important to note is the fact that the drug distribution centers in disaster stricken areas also serve as point for monitoring food. This is attributed to the fact that food monitoring and distribution go hand in hand with medical attention and distribution of drugs (Lopez-Claros & Hidalgo 2007). Food distribution As seen above disasters may result to food shortage which has effect on health of the affected victims. This mostly happens in cases of displaced people. Therefore, there is a need to have quick distribution services in order to avoid the health consequences. This is attributed to the fact there is always various groups within the population that are greatly affected by the disaster and are prone to malnutrition. These include the young children and pregnant mothers. It is important to note that in many cases food aid comes from outside and the medical personnel play a role in distributing food to the affected persons. The work together with the local people in order to reach the people who have been highly affected and are not able to access nutritious food and medical attention. One of the factors that the medical personnel consider is the culture of the affected people. It is generally accepted that there is a need to distribute food that is culturally accepted. This is because, the population is aware of the preparation of the foodstuff. However, in some cases which are unavoidable, foodstuff may come from outside and people may not be familiar to it. Therefore, there is a need to demonstrate to them how the food is prepared. In poor communities, it is advised that the distribution of manufactured food should not be considered. This is attributed to the fact that it may interfere with the local eating habits and therefore, not make use of their local produce (Clay & Stokke 2000). Nutrition In the distribution of food, the medical personnel assist the local communities and relief organization in the area of nutrition. Indeed, the affected people have different nutrition needs and therefore, there is a need to cater for the whole population (Ciottone 2006). For instance, a pregnant mother has different nutrition requirement from a young man. Similarly, some sick people may require special diet. Essentially in such cases medical people; Access the nutrition needs of the affected people Provide nutrition information to the relief organization and local authorities Provide medical attention to the victims that are suffering from food related diseases such as marasmus and kwashiorkor. Conclusion Climate changes as well as natural disaster have led to human suffering. In addition, they create needs that the affected people can alleviate with help from the outside. Examples of disaster include flood, earthquakes, blizzards and drought. When these disasters strike various organizations provide relief to the affected people. Every organization has different expertise, resources and objectives to offer and many may be involved in one major disaster. Emergency medical people have also a big role to play during such cases. Their roles basically are concerned with the people health. Essentially, they seem to work along with other organization to sustain lives. The medical personnel provide medical attention to the victims, assist in evacuation in case of disaster and train people personnel e on how to handle the situation. They also play an active role in providing basic commodities to the victims. These include food and water, housing facilities and clothes. They also offer counseling session to those people who have emotionally been affected. Essentially, the emergency medical personnel play a major in helping people who are affected by changes in climate and natural disasters. As such there is a need for them to be prepared to handle such situations in case they occur unexpectedly. References Abbott, P 2004, Natural Disasters,4th edition. New York: McGraw Hill. Abolghasemi, H, Radfar H, Khatami M, et al, 2006, International medical response to a natural disaster: lessons learned from the Bam earthquake experience. Pre-hospital Disaster Medicine, Vol. 21(3):141–147. 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