Graduate level Final and Journal
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Phase1.docxRunning Head: INCIDENCE ADMINOSTRATION PLAN 1
INCIDENCE ADMINOSTRATION PLAN 10
Incidence Administration Plan
Letia Beale
Columbia Southern University
Section I
Public Health-Related Emergency Scenario
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
Understand the Situation
The death of 12 civilians call for the analysis of their ailment given that more patients continue to complain of the similar symptoms. Calls of severe ailments and death continue to stream in through the officer on duty under the fire department. The paramedics under the island fire department have been taxed with calls of ailments and deaths in the island, their services are demanded in almost every corner of the island. The cause of the sudden death has been linked with the red tide but diagnostic of the red tide symptom seems to aggravate the situation, this calls for further investigation into the ailment so that the county hospital and island paramedics can be able to offer the necessary first aid and diagnosis.
The county hospital has more resources at their disposal and therefore have the capability of testing patients and identifying the real cause of the deaths. The island paramedics under the fire department therefore should take a patient to the county hospital using a boat so that intense testing of the patient will be carried out (Smeby, 2014). Since severe acute respiratory syndrome has similar symptom as the red tide with which the patients are diagnosed with, they should test the patient afresh to get rid of any doubts since the situation seems to be worsening each day. Upon completion of the testing, the identification of the cause of deaths to be SARS calls for discretionary measure to deal with the spreading of the disease and come up with new measures to diagnose the patients who have already contracted the disease. The situation needs immediate attention since any delay mean that the disease will spread further and more deaths will be reported.
Establish Incident Objectives
The cause of the streak of deaths has been established to be the SARs which is spread through the air, the mode of spreading makes the disease to be quickly spread across the island. The objective of the incident at hand will therefore be defined by the mode of spreading and diagnosis of the patients. The county hospital will offer medical services to the patients who will be ferried to the hospital but care needs to be taken to those who have early symptoms to help ease the congestion of patients taken to the hospital through the narrow path. The following objectives will help in dealing with the situation:
· Quarantine the infected people in a single place- the paramedics will be carrying out quarantine services to the infected individuals and this will help reduce the rate at which the disease is spreading. The place of quarantine will be close to the shore of little Columbia where the patients can be easily accessed by the paramedics for first aid and diagnosis.
· Treat the infected- since the disease is fatal, immediate attention to the patients will be required, ferrying the medics will be easier since the number of affected people is quite high and ferrying them to the county hospital will mean more congestion and possible spread of the disease to the whole Columbia county.
· Take precaution measures for future incidents- since assumptions of the situation being the red tide is associated with failure to treat the situation at earlier stages, the visitors to the island should be screened in future to avoid similar situations.
· Arrange burial of the deceased people since several people will be affected and therefore difficult to raise funds and personnel to bury their loved ones.
Develop the Plan
The incidence requires immediate action plan of first ensuring life safety of the citizens of little Columbia island, the plan will also include the way forward in ensuring free flow of people. A meeting of major stakeholders will be convened to deliberate on the actions to be taken to deal with the SAR. The firsts step will be to reduce the rate at which the disease is spreading. Dealing with the rate at which the disease is spreading require quarantine of any individual who has been identified with the symptoms of the disease. The process will require the public to pass any information on anyone who is already affected or has been in contact with an affected person. The fire department will identify two location near gulf flounder but somehow inland to eliminate congestion at the bay. The two locations will act as emergency centers for the effected and those who have been in contact with the affected.
The second step will be directing medics from the county hospitals and ensuring that the harbor is decongested to ensure that the medicines and treatment equipment are easily transported from county hospital to the island. Thirdly, a public communication line will be established to help the reporting of any person who seems to have symptoms of the SAR, this will help the paramedics to act fast before the situation runs out of hand. The line will be maintained by the little Columbia island sheriff department. The burial of the deceased will be delegated to the county morgue services provider since the island doesn’t have enough facilities to deal with the high death rate. Finally, the supply of food and drinks to the sick will be ensure through a structured flow of food from the people and visitors to the affected to ensure that they are not deprived of foodstuffs.
Prepare and Disseminate the Plan
After developing the plan, there has to be sequential flow of events which will help in marking the milestones covered in dealing with the SAR outbreak. The plan is prepared through outlining the objective of the incident plan which involve covering reducing the spreading rate of the outbreak, treating the culprit, dealing with the aftermath which includes burying the deceased and finally taking the necessary precautions to avoid such incident in the future. The plan will involve all the units of little Columbia island and available resources that will be dispatched from the county government. The personnel in the fire department will be responsible for initial identification of emergency location and preparing it for the patients’ habitation. The paramedics in little Columbia island will be offering first aid to the patients in the identified location while waiting for the medics from the county hospital. The sheriff department will be responsible for transporting those with early sign and symptoms of SAR to the emergency location, they will be responsible for managing a communication line which will be used by the public to report new incidences during the period under which treatment of affected patients will be conducted.
The plan will be disseminate to all the personnel on and outside the island through posters and the use of the media who are always at the scene. Televising the plan will help reach majority of the public who relies on it for information acquisition. The plan will be communicated to the personnel involved in the island through their seniors and a downward flow of information will be used.
Execute, evaluate, and revise the plan
Execution of the plan will be immediate upon receipt of official communication of the plan. The activities and the personnel will be coordinated by the chief of fire department of the little Columbia Island, centralization of the coordination process will help in marking the milestones covered in attending to the SAR outbreak. The coordinator of the plan will also be responsible for evaluation of the plan as the process of attending to the outbreak continues. Evaluation of the process will help in identifying areas of weaknesses and probable reallocation of personnel contrary to what is described in the plan. The evaluation process will also help in ensuring that whatever was outlined in the plan has been effectively executed and therefore the results expected from the plan are very probable. It would therefore be a controlling process to ensure that the outbreak is properly dealt with and all areas and incidents are attended to by the available personnel using the available resources.
Revising the plan will be done after the situation has been dealt with and is entirely extinguished. The review will be conducted by all the parties that had been involved in the process of incident response. The coordinator will require reports from all the personnel who had any activity delegated to them and under the post incidence committee, they will review the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities that could be utilized in future to deal with such situations that require commitment of the island and county resources at a go.
Section II
Finance administration section
Dealing with any incidence requires commitment of resources which might not be available at the moment, such scenarios lead to the aggravation of the incidence and consequently more deaths or devastation of the emergency. An emergency is not a planned event so there is no time to secure resources to deal with a situation once it has occurred for this reason, there should be a finance administration which will help commit finances to such incidence when they arise. The finance administration should be established at the present moment and should be functional always since one is never sure when the emergency will end.
Taking little Columbia island for an instance, the resources at their disposal to deal with the SAR outbreak are very limited, the island falls short of personnel who work in the fire department, the paramedics are also few and an incidence of such magnitude requires commitment of any available paramedics whose ratio should be raised to almost 1:15. This means that a single paramedic should attend to 15 residents of the island incase such emergency occurs. Transport means in the area is also poor and the transportation of aid to the affected areas is cumbersome. Difficulty in accessing areas where an emergency like fire has occurred means that more damage will be accrued. Fats delivery of such services means that more goods will be salvaged in such instances and therefore reduce the destruction. It is for this reason that the article supports the establishment of a finance administration during emergency periods to help in securing and allocating resources during the emergency incident period.
The finance administration established during an emergency period is expected to deliver resources to the affected areas. It would be totally impractical to start securing the required resources when an emergency occurs since more time will be wasted when it is of great importance. The finance administration section should therefore be in existence but not functional and should swing into action once and emergency incident that requires finance administration services occurs. Members of the emergency and incidences department have great knowledge of the required resources when any of incidence occurs, they know the number of personnel required, the kind of transport services among others. Therefore, the finance administration should be comprised of members of the committee that deals with the emergency incidents. They would be given the responsibility of securing resources to deal with the scenarios long before they occur.
The committee should therefore be always in contract terms with the suppliers of material and resources required during an emergency. The members of the finance administration section should have pre-established agreements, contracts, and a procedural process with local vendors, suppliers, and contractors on equipment and/or supplies that could be required during the emergency. Entering into such contracts should be done during the budget proposition period which will mean that down payments for the equipment’s to be supplied should be paid after the allocation of the budget to the suppliers. Since there is no exact amount that can be predetermined to be required during the emergency, excesses should be carried forward to the net financial year while deficits should be covered in the present financial year (Walsh, et al, 2012). The emergency allocation should be maintained by the county accountant for the purposes of settling the funds for the equipment’s used in an emergency and for transparency purposes since any one can access the information from the county.
The importance of a budget for fire and emergency medical services (EMS) administration in preparation for emergency incidents cannot be overlooked. The budget allocation helps in preparedness for any incidence that threaten the human life of the little Columbia Island or any other region. It caters for the expenses that will be incurred during an emergency and therefore removing the element of fear among the concerned parties on running out of resources to deal with any event. It therefore boosts the morale and preparedness of the response units since they are sure of having the necessary equipment’s and resources to deal with any incidence that may occur.
Allocating resources during the urgency periods would also prove easier compared to a situation where such plans had not been put in place. The budget can also be used to cater for such expenses as buying of equipment’s that prove to be of vital importance during an emergency occurrence. For instance, upgrading the firefighting trucks to all weather road trucks would help in accessing the fire location and with more advanced equipment, faster fire extinguishing services would be delivered. The funds can also be used in educating the public in preparedness for emergency events. There have been a number of cases where public unawareness on how to handle emergency events has caused more casualties than it could have if they knew what to do especially rescuing their lives. With a budget, delivery of emergency medical and fire services can be enhanced through training of the personnel. Although the personnel have basic knowledge on how to deal with such situations, it would prove to be more valuable to train them within the geographical region where they are deployed. Knowing the environment will help in making the services to be more efficient and effective compared to a totally new place.
References
Smeby, L. C., Jr. (2014). Fire and emergency services administration: Management and leadership practices (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Walsh, D. W., Christen, H. T., Jr., Callsen, C. E., Jr., Miller, G. T., Maniscalco, P. M., Lord, G. C., & Dolan, N. J. (2012). National incident management system: Principles and practice (2nd ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
