Dr7

provide an appreciative inquiry response. You will not be marked on your opinion but on your ability to present a valid argument and to manage constructive discussion with your cohort while  integrating the material being discussed in the course.  When responding to other students please refrain from simply stating "great comment/response". Offer your thoughts on what he/she may have added to make the discussion more substantive.  Remember to be respectful and focus on only the discussion points and arguments posted.  This forum is intended to provide an opportunity to integrate all of the learning objectives into practice. 

Write a 200 word response to Anthony post

Anthony,

Flexibility

Introduction

        An emergency manager and their team's need to be flexible during a disaster response is almost a guarantee. That need extends down to the boots on the ground responders. Flexibility is great but only to a certain extent; the moment flexibility impacts safety when responding to emergencies or disaster, you begin to lose credibility among those directly tasked with the response. Covid has and continues to be a strange time in America, particularly for those in healthcare. "Disasters also unfold in unpredictable and dynamic ways, which may limit preparedness measures and render standard operating procedures useless." ( Week 7 Lecture: Flexibility, n.d.)

First Responders and Medical Personnel Overwhelmed

        As a flight paramedic on a helicopter, I spend one month on the aircraft, followed by one month on an ambulance in a repeating pattern. While on MedFlight (MF), we average 0.8 calls per 24 hour period. We respond only to trauma calls that meet state trauma alert criteria. We spend a lot of time training and watching TV throughout our 24-hour shifts. In March, my partner and I watched the news in shock while Covid unfolded. My wife works in a hospital and would give me reports on what she saw, and it was pretty awful. It wasn't until April that I really saw what Covid was doing.

        My first shift back on an ambulance was nerve-racking. I was sheltered at MF; I hadn't had to worry about PPE. I went to work and then straight home and ordered everything we needed online. In April, Covid became real to me. Seeing hospital ER rooms now converted for negative pressure with plastic sheeting for walls was strange. Every RN and Dr. covered head to toe. It was like something out of a movie.

         I was instantly faced with a shortage of PPE. We were given one N95 mask and a paper bag and told to use it for as long as possible; the paper bag was to store it between uses. This was unheard of to a medic of 18 years. We had to be flexible; we had no alternative. We got daily updates from our Chief regarding the number of positive cases in our county and the quantity of PPE we had available. At one point, we only had two days worth of surgical masks (given to every single patient) and three days worth of gowns (among the required PPE for us to wear on any suspected Covid positive patient). Flexibility was beginning to put us at risk.

        We had medics wearing trash bags over gowns so that gowns could be re-used. Members of our administration purchased outdoor tablecloths, cutting holes into them for our heads and arms. We were advised these would be used as a last resort and could be "hosed-off" between use. The training department made cloth masks and handed each employee two; also, to be used as a last resort. Medics and EMT's were furious, a cloth mask to protect us in an enclosed ambulance with Covid positive patients! At this time, we were already wearing N95's supplied from the federal government's reserves; those expired in 2009, by the way. N95's require a procedural fit testing process that we were forced to abandon as soon as the style that fit us ran out. We had never even seen the type the government was supplying us. How much more flexible did we need to be? The same was true of hospital staff. My wife and I ended up purchasing our own respirators as soon as they became available. Fortunately, we never ended up needing to use our last resort options, but they did become dangerously close to our only option.

        The shortage of N95 masks has significantly improved, but we still cannot obtain the style for which we have been fit tested. As angry and concerned for our safety as we all were back in the early days of this pandemic, I understand the "alternative solutions." Our department leaders had no choice; it was all we had. There are many lessons to be learned regarding Covid, and I believe a much larger stockpile of PPE is needed to protect those who protect everyone else.

Altruistic Citizens

        Initially, the community response to first responders was overwhelming. Restaurants would bring piles of food to the stations. Food trucks would set-up outside hospitals to serve meals to physically and mentally exhausted staff. Ordinary community members with the best intentions created tense moments, however. We had several people come to the stations to drop off everything you can imagine. We had on-the-fly policies in place at that time to deal with these "donations." That usually meant thanking them from a cracked door while wearing a mask and then throwing out whatever they had brought us once they were out of sight. I remember seeing a news story after Hurricane Dorian pleading the public to stop donating clothing. It was straining relief agencies because there was too much. It is human nature to want to help; fortunately, the public has a short attention span, and these donations have stopped.

Conclusion

        I could write about the response to Covid all day long, having witnessed from inside healthcare and on the news. In the interest of limiting this 500-word response to less than 1000 words, I will close with this. The lessons from this are many and far-reaching. This response was disastrous from day one and the top leaders. I cannot wait until the dust settles, science reveals itself, and all leaders and the public take notice.

 

 

 

 

References

Week 7 Lecture: Flexibility. (n.d.). EMA 305: Principles of Emergency Management. Retrieved October 4, 2020, from  https://barry.instructure.com/courses/1596805/files/64865420/download?wrap=1

provide an appreciative inquiry response. You will not be marked on your opinion but on your ability to present a valid argument and to manage constructive discussion with your cohort while  integrating the material being discussed in the course.  When responding to other students please refrain from simply stating "great comment/response". Offer your thoughts on what he/she may have added to make the discussion more substantive.  Remember to be respectful and focus on only the discussion points and arguments posted.  This forum is intended to provide an opportunity to integrate all of the learning objectives into practice. 

Write a 200 word response to Mabel post

Mabel,

As the world evolves and in submerges in constant change, many professionals find themselves adjusting and finding flexibility within their field to accommodate the changes. Emergency Management is no exception. In the world of emergency management, planning is critical. We see that planning as the foundation of our community emergency program. Planning enables emergency managers to determine what functions will be performed after a disaster and who will be responsible for accomplishing them (Falcone, 2020. p.1). This brings us to the importance of 2 factors, which are planning and flexibility. As we read, embark, and grow our knowledge of Emergency Management, we have learned that there is no planning without flexibility, and there is no flexibility without planning. In our lecture, there was three important information (Falcone, 2020. p. 4):

· “The lack of planning increases the need for flexibility.”

· “Planning does not prevent flexibility.”

· “Effective Emergency management requires flexibility.”

The definition of Emergency states “a serious, unexpected, and often dangerous situation requiring immediate action (Oxford Languages). During disasters, unpredictable and dynamic ways can unfold, such as the cases of first responders, and medical personnel will quickly become overwhelmed in significant public health emergencies. Also, power outages associated with disasters leave communications equipment inoperable (Falcone, 2020. p.3).

During these recent times of COVID-19 and other events in history, such as 9/11, we have seen as the first responders, and medical personnel will become overwhelmed due to the amount of bandwidth that must be available to sustain and aide in the Emergency. In both events, COVID-19 and 9/11, support from other states and cities had to be requested. Also, hospital offices became doctor quarters as they stay in the hospital and didn’t go home for two reasons. One was to contain the virus as much as possible and not expose others, especially family members. The other was to support the hospital and co-workers with more working hours due to the excessive volume of patients needing regular and intensive care.

When an emergency occurs, and the program's planning may encounter significant delays, flexibility may become a reality. This is a case we have seen when power outages associated with disasters leave communications equipment inoperable (Falcone, 2020). During Hurricane Irma, nearly 4 million people in Florida lost power (Reuters, 2017). As well as other hurricane events, the loss of power and communications has been impactful. This is where we have seen public officials focusing on renewable energy in the last few years (Freed, 2018), mainly focusing on areas more prone to hurricanes. This will help faster power restoration to facilities such as Assisting Living Facilities (ALF's) as well as others. Flexibility comes into place when collaborating with neighboring states has been made to aid in restoring power. This task at a time can be tidiest and overwhelming and may require many staff-hours that can put a strain on workers if they work around the clock.

Planning is crucial and necessary, and we now know that flexibility needs to have space as well.  Having both will improve Emergency Management (Falcone, 2020). As human adaptation comes naturally to all, at times, it may take a while, but eventually, we will adapt. We repeatedly see how, during unpredictable events, improvisations have become the success of the incident. In Emergency  Management, we have 4 phases, and within those phases, there must always be room for adaptation and improvisation to allow flexibility to help manage the situation.