TED Talk: The Human Dimensions of Disaster Recovery In this TEDx NOLA talk, Dr. Irwin Redlener describes how improved coordination of intelligence services, enhanced detection of biological agents, and better infrastructure capacity can enable the public health sector to work more effectively. He also talks about the need for mobile medical care, electronic medical records, and further preparation for medical healthcare facility evacuations. Learn More
Children, the environment, and preparing for disasters post-Katrina Center Director Irwin Redlener and The Earth Institute’s Jeff Sachs appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on 8/26/10 to talk about the state of children, the environment, and preparing for disasters post-Katrina. Learn More
Trauma After Katrina: Kids Still Suffering Emotionally Dr. Irwin Redlener, Director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University, speaks to CNN’s American Morning, live from New Orleans about research findings showing children still suffering emotionally from the 2005 disaster. Learn More
Researching An Elusive Community From the documentary “Pandemia Invisible:” a team of researchers from the National Center of Disaster Preparedness out of the Mailman school of public Health at Columbia University sets out to conduct a study on undocumented immigrant communities in the U.S. and what would be their outcome in case of a public health emergency. Learn More
Assessing the Human Health Effects of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill: An Institute of Medicine Workshop Engaging the Public, Protecting Health: David Abramson speaks on communicating health risks to diverse groups of people. This presentation was filmed on June 22, 2010, as part of an IOM Workshop assembled to address the potential health effects of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. This particular talk was part of the session entitled” Strategies for … Continue reading “Assessing the Human Health Effects of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill: An Institute of Medicine Workshop” Learn More
Pandemia Invisible Documentary Film Produced by HITN, in collaboration with the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Pandemia Invisible chronicles the research team’s experience in four US cities trying to understand how the H1N1 pandemic impacted undocumented Mexican immigrant communities. The research process, as well as the families’ stories in those communities, are highlighted in this English-language documentary. Additional clips, … Continue reading “Pandemia Invisible Documentary Film” Learn More
Children as Bellwethers of Recovery: Dysfunctional Systems and the Effects of Parents, Households, and Neighborhoods on Serious Emotional Disturbance in Children After Hurricane Katrina Background: Over 160 000 children were displaced from their homes after Hurricane Katrina. Tens of thousands of these children experienced the ongoing chaos and uncertainty of displacement and transiency, as well as significant social disruptions in their lives. The objectives of this study were to estimate the long-term mental health effects of such exposure among … Continue reading “Children as Bellwethers of Recovery: Dysfunctional Systems and the Effects of Parents, Households, and Neighborhoods on Serious Emotional Disturbance in Children After Hurricane Katrina” Learn More
Emergency Response and Public Health in Hurricane Katrina: What Does it Mean to Be a Public Health Emergency Responder? Since 9/11, federal funds directed toward public health departments for training in disaster preparedness have dramatically increased, resulting in changing expectations of public health workers’ roles in emergency response. This article explores the public health emergency responder role through data collected as part of an oral history conducted with the 3 health departments that responded … Continue reading “Emergency Response and Public Health in Hurricane Katrina: What Does it Mean to Be a Public Health Emergency Responder?” Learn More
Legacy of Katrina: The Impact of a Flawed Recovery on Vulnerable Children of the Gulf Coast It is estimated that in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall on August 29th, 2005 and was followed a month later by Hurricane Rita, approximately 1.5 million people, including some 163,000 children were displaced in Louisiana and Mississippi alone. Since children and families who had the means fled the city, those who were … Continue reading “Legacy of Katrina: The Impact of a Flawed Recovery on Vulnerable Children of the Gulf Coast” Learn More
Hospital Referral Patterns: How Emergency Medical Care is Accessed in a Disaster BACKGROUND: A prevalent assumption in hospital emergency preparedness planning is that patient arrival from a disaster scene will occur through a coordinated system of patient distribution based on the number of victims, capabilities of the receiving hospitals, and the nature and severity of illness or injury. In spite of the strength of the emergency medical … Continue reading “Hospital Referral Patterns: How Emergency Medical Care is Accessed in a Disaster” Learn More
Day Three: Regional Resiliency and Health Challenges in the Aftermath of Nuclear Terrorism On February 23, 2010, in New York City, the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health (NCDP) convened a unique roundtable of experts to discuss the impacts on a major U.S. city and the surrounding region, of the detonation by terrorists of a 10-kiloton improvised nuclear device. Aware of … Continue reading “Day Three: Regional Resiliency and Health Challenges in the Aftermath of Nuclear Terrorism” Learn More
Impact on Children and Families of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Preliminary Findings of the Coastal Population Impact Study Although the ruptured Deepwater Horizon oil well was capped on July 15, 2010, an estimated 3 to 5 million barrels of oil spilled in to the Gulf of Mexico over a three-month period. Several surveys prior to the capping of the well documented the concerns and immediate effects of the oil spill on coastal residents. … Continue reading “Impact on Children and Families of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Preliminary Findings of the Coastal Population Impact Study” Learn More
Regional Health and Public Health Preparedness for Nuclear Terrorism: Optimizing Survival in a Low Probability/High Consequence Disaster The United States remains unprepared to cope with the possibility of an attack on a major city by terrorists capable of acquiring and detonating an improvised nuclear device. Long-held anxieties about the non-survivability of nuclear war promulgated during the intense U.S.—Soviet arms race from the late 1940s through the 1980s, and reluctance to consider low … Continue reading “Regional Health and Public Health Preparedness for Nuclear Terrorism: Optimizing Survival in a Low Probability/High Consequence Disaster” Learn More
Recovery Research, Katrina's Fifth Anniversary, and Lessons Relearned What may be called “disaster science” is a broad field that begins with understanding hazards, risks, and population vulnerabilities and moves on to establishing best-practice models of response, mitigation, and recovery. Gaps abound in our collective knowledge in all of these areas, and it is fair to suggest that we have only begun to scratch … Continue reading “Recovery Research, Katrina’s Fifth Anniversary, and Lessons Relearned” Learn More
Utilizing paramedics for in-patient critical care surge capacity INTRODUCTION: While many hospitals have developed preliminary emergency department and in-patient surge plans, the ability to surge is often limited by critical resources. The resource which is often the most limited is usually the human resource and within this category the limiting factor is almost universally nursing. As a result, nursing shortages can result in … Continue reading “Utilizing paramedics for in-patient critical care surge capacity” Learn More
Measuring Individual Disaster Recovery: A Socioecological Framework Background: Disaster recovery is a complex phenomenon. Too often, recovery is measured in singular fashion, such as quantifying rebuilt infrastructure or lifelines, without taking in to account the affected population’s individual and community recovery. A comprehensive framework is needed that encompasses a much broader and far-reaching construct with multiple underlying dimensions and numerous causal pathways; … Continue reading “Measuring Individual Disaster Recovery: A Socioecological Framework” Learn More
Climate Change and the Public's Health: The Coming Crisis for the U.S. Gulf Coast This paper reviews the scientific consensus as to how climate change will affect human health on a global scale and describes the limited, emerging research findings concerning climate change health impacts along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Through myriad pathways, climate change is likely to make the Gulf Coast less hospitable and more dangerous for Americans, … Continue reading “Climate Change and the Public’s Health: The Coming Crisis for the U.S. Gulf Coast” Learn More
