the communities
3 postsRe: Topic 5 DQ 1
Whether natural or manmade, disasters take a toll on the communities they hit and those who are caring for them, physically, psychologically, and spiritually. However, natural and manmade disasters may have different impacts psychologically and spiritually. In the context of a natural disaster there are stresses from injury/loss of life, the potential damaging of a community, and a feeling of disbelief or stress related to coping with a loss. Depending on the cause of the manmade disaster, there could be slightly different stresses including loss of trust in people or anger if the disaster was intentional. Regardless they both have an impact on the individuals, community, and health care providers effected.
In order for health care providers to be able to care for people and communities affected by disaster, they must first ensure they care for themselves spiritually in order for them to focus on the needs of others. Once this is taken care of community health nurses can assist individuals in many ways including building rapport and relationship with them and having therapeutic conversations, they can also utilize the resources in the community such as chaplains and social work. Chaplains are trained and able to provide counseling and comfort to those impacted by the shock and grief of a disaster (Falkner, 2018). Another way in which community health nurses could assist would be with preparation of the community prior to the disaster occurring. By assessing and knowing the community’s spiritual needs and resources pre-disaster they will know who to turn to after an event even quicker. In working with colleagues during disaster response the community health nurse can monitor their mental and spiritual health and reach out if they see them slipping at all.
Resources
Falkner, A. (2018). Disaster management. In Grand Canyon University (Ed.), Community & public health: The future of health care. Retrieved from https://lc.gcumedia.com/nrs427vn/community-and-public-health-the-future-of-health-care/v1.1/#/chapter/5
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