The 2004 and 2005 Gulf Coast Hurricanes: Evolving Roles and Lessons Learned for Public Libraries in Disaster Preparedness and Community Services

ABSTRACT Introduction: On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall along the Gulf Coast of the United States, resulting in the evacuation of more than 1.5 million people, including nearly 6000 physicians. This article examines the relocation patterns of physicians following the storm, determines the impact that the disaster had on their lives and practices, and identifies lessons learned. Methods: An Internet-based survey was conducted among licensed physicians reporting addresses within Federal Emergency Management Agency-designated disaster zones in Louisiana and Mississippi. Descriptive data analysis was used to describe respondent characteristics. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to identify the factors associated with physician nonreturn to original practice. For those remaining relocated out of state, bivariate analysis with x2 or Fisher exact test was used to determine factors associated with plans to return to original practice. Results: A total of 312 eligible responses were collected. Among disaster zone respondents, 85.6 percent lived in Louisiana and 14.4 percent resided in Mississippi before the hurricane struck. By spring 2006, 75.6 percent (n = 236) of the respondents had returned to their original homes, whereas 24.4 percent (n = 76) remained displaced. Factors associated with nonreturn to original employment included family or general medicine practice (OR 0.42, 95 percent CI 0.17–1.04; P = .059) and severe or complete damage to the workplace (OR 0.24, 95 percent CI 0.13–0.42; P < .001). Conclusions: A sizeable proportion of physicians remain displaced after Hurricane Katrina, along with a lasting decrease in the number of physicians serving in the areas affected by the disaster. Programs designed to address identified physician needs in the aftermath of the storm may give confidence to displaced physicians to return.

Download Full-text

Implications of the GC-HARMS Fishermen’s Citizen Science Network: Issues Raised, Lessons Learned, and Next Steps for the Network and Citizen Science

NEW SOLUTIONS A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy ◽

10.1177/1048291118810871 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 28 (4) ◽

pp. 570-598 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

John Sullivan ◽

Sharon Croisant ◽

Marilyn Howarth ◽

Wilma Subra ◽

Marylee Orr ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Citizen Science ◽

Social Dynamics ◽

Gulf Coast ◽

Community Based Participatory Research ◽

Community Outreach ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Project Outcomes ◽

Participatory Science ◽

Cultural Fluency ◽

Political Economic

This paper is intended to complement our extended documentation and analysis of the activities of the Gulf Coast Health Alliance: Health Risks related to the Macondo Spill project Community Outreach and Dissemination Core entitled, “Building and maintaining a citizen science network with fishermen and fishing communities after the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster using a Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approach.” We discuss nuances of CBPR practice, including trust-building, clarification of stakeholder expectations, balancing timelines and agendas, cultural fluency, and the importance of regional history—political-economic context, regulatory practices, and cultural life-ways—in creating social dynamics that overarch and underpin the entire process. We examine the unique role of knowledge-making hybrid structures like the project’s Fishermen’s citizen science network and compare/contrast this structure with other models of participatory science or deliberation. Finally, we reiterate the importance of environmental health literacy efforts, summarize project outcomes, and offer thoughts on the future roles of collaborative efforts among communities and institutional science in environmental public health.

Download Full-text

Emergency Response and Management: Lessons Learned on the Gulf Coast

GIS for Critical Infrastructure Protection ◽

10.1201/b18839-13 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 200-219

Keyword(s):

Emergency Response ◽

Gulf Coast ◽

Lessons Learned

Download Full-text

Studying the Human Health and Ecological Impacts of the Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill Disaster: Introduction to This Special Issue of New Solutions

NEW SOLUTIONS A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy ◽

10.1177/1048291118795691 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 28 (3) ◽

pp. 410-415 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Sharon Croisant ◽

John Sullivan

Keyword(s):

Oil Spill ◽

Deep Water ◽

Disaster Preparedness ◽

Disaster Response ◽

Gulf Coast ◽

Multiple Stressors ◽

Ecological Impacts ◽

Health Impacts ◽

Special Issue ◽

Research Partnerships

Gulf Coast Health Alliance: Health Risks Related to the Macondo Spill (GC-HARMS) began in 2011 as a component project of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’ (NIEHS) Deep Water Horizon (DWH) Research Consortia program. This Gulf-wide consortium created regional community-university research partnerships focused on addressing health impacts resulting from oil spill exposures. Findings from this trans-National Institutes of Health program have helped enhance and refine community disaster preparedness and reinforced local–regional disaster response networks. Focal points of individual projects included the following: effects of multiple stressors on individuals and vulnerable populations, exposure to contaminants associated with crude oil, and mental health impacts. This introduction to New Solutions Special Issue on the GC-HARMS response to the DWH disaster presents an overview of the project’s internal structure and relationship to the comprehensive NIEHS consortia response and lists articles and interviews featured currently with brief mention of additional articles slated for the next issue.

Download Full-text

Two Fires and a Flood

Emergency and Disaster Management ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-6195-8.ch068 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 1451-1472

Author(s):

Bernadine Goldman

Keyword(s):

Local Government ◽

Disaster Preparedness ◽

Recovery Process ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Supportive Relationships ◽

Los Alamos ◽

Library System ◽

Library Staff ◽

Year 2000

This chapter explores the ongoing path toward disaster preparedness taken by Los Alamos County Library System. The library system has experienced three disasters since the year 2000, the Cerro Grande Fire; a cloudburst that sent water pouring through the library's skylight, and the Las Conchas Fire. The author tells the stories of these disasters, and their impacts on the library, its staff and community, with some emphasis on the emotional impacts. These stories and the lessons learned from them are interwoven with the steps and missteps in the writing of the library's disaster preparedness manual and the ongoing need to keep preparedness efforts active. The importance of forming supportive relationships with colleagues in the local government and with regional library cohorts, and the magnitude of the role the library staff, collections and facility already had in the community, a role that expanded in the recovery process, are highlighted.

Download Full-text

Implementing a Knowledge Management-Based Model for Lessons Learned

Knowledge Management Practices in the Public Sector - Advances in Knowledge Acquisition, Transfer, and Management ◽

10.4018/978-1-7998-1940-0.ch009 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 196-219

Author(s):

Moria Levy ◽

Rinat Salem

Keyword(s):

Knowledge Management ◽

Community Services ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Case Study Approach ◽

Study Approach ◽

Model Based ◽

Organizational Work ◽

Key Features ◽

Active Processes

Lesson learning is a well-known and crucial organizational tool that serves many organizations wishing to improve their performance. This chapter describes a knowledge management (KM)-based model, improving the level of learning and of the lessons learned with the goal of reducing repeated mistakes as well as recreating their successes. The key features of the model were the base of a research conducted using a case study approach implemented at the Welfare Division of the Jerusalem Municipality's Community Services Administration. The implemented model, based on KM ideas, added two significant stages to the process of debriefing—refining the lessons learned and transforming them into lessons that are managed in an independent database—as well as an additional stage, which was comprised of active processes of integrating the lessons into the organizational work.

Download Full-text

Deepwater Horizon oil spill impacts on Alabama beaches

Hydrology and Earth System Sciences ◽

10.5194/hess-15-3639-2011 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 15 (12) ◽

pp. 3639-3649 ◽

Cited By ~ 41

Author(s):

J. S. Hayworth ◽

T. P. Clement ◽

J. F. Valentine

Keyword(s):

Oil Spill ◽

Gulf Coast ◽

Deepwater Horizon ◽

Sandy Beaches ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Ecological State ◽

Current State ◽

Physical Chemical ◽

Long Term Consequences

Abstract. From mid June 2010 to early August 2010, the white sandy beaches along Alabama's Gulf coast were inundated with crude oil discharged from the Deepwater Horizon well. The long-term consequences of this environmental catastrophe are still unfolding. Although BP has attempted to clean up some of these beaches, there still exist many unanswered questions regarding the physical, chemical, and ecological state of the oil contaminated beach system. In this paper, we present our understanding of what is known and known to be unknown with regard to the current state of Alabama's beaches in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Motivated by our observations of the evolving distribution of oil in Alabama's beaches and BP's clean-up activities, we offer our thoughts on the lessons learned from this oil spill disaster.

Download Full-text

The International Pharmacists-as-Immunizers Partnership (IPIP)—Advancing Research on Pharmacist-Administered Immunizations Worldwide

Pharmacy ◽

10.3390/pharmacy7020053 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 53 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Richard R. Violette ◽

Sherilyn K. D. Houle ◽

Lisa M. Nissen ◽

Nancy M. Waite

Keyword(s):

Disaster Preparedness ◽

Pharmacy Practice ◽

Implementation Strategies ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Practice Research ◽

Future Research ◽

Pharmacy Practice Research ◽

International Pharmacy ◽

Funding Opportunities ◽

The University

This article describes the formation of the International Pharmacists-as-Immunizers Partnership (IPIP), an international network of pharmacy practice researchers with an interest in pharmacist-administered immunizations. Using funds obtained from a university-sponsored grant, a two-day meeting was held at the University of Waterloo in Canada to discuss published and in-progress research on the topic, identify gaps and priorities for future research, and share implementation strategies used in different jurisdictions. Twelve researchers from five countries attended this initial meeting, identified from both personal networks and from authorship lists from published research. Small- and large-group discussions addressed a number of themes, including: clinical, economic and educational outcomes of the service; the perspectives of pharmacists, patients, and other health professionals; operational and policy factors influencing uptake; safety; and the immunizing pharmacist’s role in disaster preparedness. Feedback on our first meeting and outcomes achieved were evaluated on the basis of participant feedback. Key components of the meeting that were considered successful and important lessons learned are summarized, so that other like-minded researchers with a shared pharmacy practice research interest could consider leveraging funding opportunities to establish other international pharmacy practice research networks.

Download Full-text