Quantifying Disaster Impacts on Local Public Health Agency’s Leadership, Staffing, and Provision of Essential Public Health Services

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Lauren A. Clay ◽  
Kahler W. Stone ◽  
Jennifer A. Horney
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Disaster Response ◽  
Professional Staff ◽  
Local Health ◽  
Public Health Services ◽  
Local Public Health ◽  
Incident Command ◽  
Essential Public Health Services ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the impact that natural disaster response has on local health departments’ (LHD) ability to continue to provide essential public health services. Methods: A web-based survey was sent to all North Carolina Local Health Directors. The survey asked respondents to report on LHD functioning following Hurricanes Florence (2018) and Dorian (2019). Results: After Hurricane Florence, the positions who most frequently had regular duties postponed or interrupted were leadership (15 of 48; 31.3%), and professional staff (e.g., nursing and epidemiology: 11 of 48; 22.9%). Staffing shelters for all phases – from disaster response through long-term recovery – was identified as a burden by LHDs, particularly for nursing staff. Approximately 66.6% of LHD jurisdictions opened an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) or activated Incident Command System in response to both hurricanes. If an EOC was activated, the LHD was statistically, significantly more likely to report that normal duties had been interrupted across every domain assessed. Conclusions: The ability of LHDs to perform regular activities and provide essential public health services is impacted by their obligations to support disaster response. Better metrics are needed to measure the impacts to estimate indirect public health impacts of disasters.

scholarly journals Performance and Priorities: A Cross-sectional Study of Local Health Department Approaches to Essential Public Health Services

2019 ◽  
Vol 135 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan Wallace ◽  
Joshua Sharfstein ◽  
Justin Lessler
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Local Health ◽  
Health Departments ◽  
Local Health Departments ◽  
Public Health Services ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Local Public Health ◽  
Essential Public Health Services ◽  
Per Capita

Objectives: Despite a push for increased local public health capacity, no clear baseline for performance of local health departments (LHDs) exists. The objectives of this study were to quantify the self-reported performance of LHDs on the 10 Essential Public Health Services (EPHSs) and describe the relationships between performance and characteristics of LHDs. Methods: We used data on 2000 LHDs from the 2013 National Profile of Local Health Departments survey to develop principal components analysis–based scores to evaluate each LHD on the performance of EPHSs. Scores ranged from 0 to 100. LHDs that performed no activities within an EPHS had a score of 0, and LHDs that performed all activities within an EPHS had a score of 100. We explored the relationships between EPHS scores and LHD characteristics by using multivariate linear regression and cluster analysis. Results: Performance scores varied greatly by LHDs and EPHSs; however, LHDs typically scored <50, indicating that they performed fewer than half of the activities evaluated. LHDs that served larger populations (vs smaller populations) and LHDs that had higher per-capita funding (vs lower per-capita funding) had higher EPHS scores. We identified 6 EPHS performance score–based LHD clusters, which suggests similarities in which EPHSs LHDs focused on. Conclusions: Our results suggest weaknesses in many LHDs’ fulfillment of the EPHSs, particularly in low-population and low-funding settings. LHDs should be given the resources to increase capacity and ensure the EPHSs are met in communities.

Snow Storms and Vulnerable Populations: Local Public Health Activities in Response to the 2014-2015 Severe Winter Weather

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (03) ◽  
pp. 647-649
Author(s):  
Dorothy Bernard ◽  
Souleymane Konate ◽  
Elena Savoia
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Vulnerable Populations ◽  
Winter Season ◽  
Severe Weather ◽  
Local Health ◽  
Health Departments ◽  
Local Health Departments ◽  
Public Health Services ◽  
Local Public Health ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTThe Northeastern United States experienced some of its coldest and snowiest conditions ever recorded during the winter of 2014-2015. The snowfall and extreme temperatures created significant challenges for local health departments attempting to continue critical services and respond to storm-related needs of the community. This report from the field aims to describe the impact of the severe weather on local health departments’ operations, to examine the disruption to public health services, and to document public health support provided to vulnerable populations during the 2014-2015 winter season. Our findings show that the severe weather exposed major challenges in continuity of public health operations across health departments of various sizes and highlighted some key issues as well as effective strategies, such as collaborations with community-based organizations, to identify and address the needs of the most vulnerable during the winter storms. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2019;13:647-649)

A case of imported leprosy in Italy: Implications for surveillance by Public Health Services of Local Health Authorities

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 101402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manfredo Marotta ◽  
Laura Dallolio ◽  
Greta Toni ◽  
Francesco Toni ◽  
Erica Leoni
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Local Health ◽  
Public Health Services ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Local Health Authorities

scholarly journals User involvement in developing community-based public health services: a scoping review of methods

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
K S Petersen ◽  
J F Pedersen ◽  
B Egilstroed ◽  
C Overgaard
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
User Involvement ◽  
Community Services ◽  
Cochrane Library ◽  
Public Health Services ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Comprehensive Overview ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background User involvement in developing community-based public health services has been on the agenda for decades. User involvement refers to the variety of ways in which service users or public citizens participate in the development of health services: from proving information on their needs to actively being involved in decisions about future services. Former studies found that user involvement is meaningful to the people involved and could have a favorable impact on the quality of services. Thus, it is timely to systematically identify and provide a comprehensive overview of user involvement methods used in public health studies. The aim of this scoping review is to provide an overview of the current body of empirical research where user involvement methods have been used to develop community public health services and identify its possible impact on the individual as well as services. Methods A systematic scoping review of user involvement methods aiming to develop public health services followed Arksey and O'Malley, 2005 framework. Six databases: CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Embase, PsycINFO. PubMed, Scopus and ProQuest, were searched from October till November, 2019. Search terms were: user involvement, methods and health care with corresponding synonym. All hits were double screened. Results 6.044 studies were identified of which 38 studies lived up to the criteria. Preliminary findings from coding and synthesizing studies have identified a variety of user involvement Methods 19 of the studies used complex, multi-facetted packages of methods aiming to identify needs, prioritize and formulate recommendations for future services. 19 studies used different kinds of group meetings and some used certain techniques to facilitate the process. Many reported the impact, and 13 evaluated the methods. The impact of using the methods varied from impact on individual, group, or service/political level. Final results will be presented at the conference. Key messages Studies on user involvement methods in developing community public health services and its impact are sparse. User involvement is privotal in developing sustainable public health community services.

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