Disaster Planning for Public Health Writing Assignment

Disaster Planning for Public Health
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Disaster Planning for Public Health
New Jersey is a densely populated community with an elaborate transport network including an international airport. The nature of the community makes it easy for any disease that breaks out to spread easily. A pandemic happens when a new case of a “certain disease” is reported and spreads rapidly, exceeding expectations (Ferguson et al., 2005). Of main concern is preparedness for influenza pandemic within the New Jersey Community. Influenza is a highly contagious respiratory disease that can be transmitted from one person to another through coughing or sneezing (Ferguson et al., 2005; Fineberg, 2014). The virus can also be spread through being in contact with a person who is infected. Timing of influenza is difficult but it occurs regularly.
New Jersey public health plan for influenza assumes that the next occurrence of the pandemic can happen at any time of the year. The community may have “little lead time” from when the pandemic is identified to when it starts affecting people within New Jersey. The other assumption is that the pandemic is transmitted from one person to another within the community. It is also assumed that public officials will not be able to tell how severe the pandemic influenza will be (Gensheimer et al., 2003). The plan also assumes that vaccines will be available to help contain the pandemic.
Preparedness for influenza outbreak requires having a comprehensive plan, thoroughly tested and well refined (Patriarca & Cox, 1997). The community needs to be engaged too when coming up with these plans. A good plan should be simple and flexible. Influenza outbreaks vary in intensities and the New Jersey disaster planning should be flexible enough to handle them. One of the most challenging tasks during a pandemic outbreak is communication and it needs to be planned well in advance. Communication needs to be timely, transparent, accessible, and credible (Gensheimer et al., 2003). Influenza pandemic presents great risks to the New Jersey community and has the potential to cause high mortality and morbidity and disrupt the community economically and socially.
The goals of the public health plan should include the following: minimize the burden on health systems, minimize deaths, morbidity and transmissibility, and engage and empower the public. Influenza pandemic preparedness requires the following: having enough stockpile of community “personal protective equipment (PPE),” developing community medical “stockpile distribution plans,” consistently keeping an eye on the existing stockpile quantity, undertaking seasonal influenza arrangements, having yearly influenza vaccination programs, having guidelines for infection control, and continuously collecting and maintaining influenza infection data (Fineberg, 2014).
In case of an outbreak, public health measures will be necessary in preventing and containing the pandemic. There should be a “health system communication plan.” The plan would enable efficient communication with local public health units to ensure timely response (Ferguson et al., 2005). The communication system would also enable relaying to t...