Emergency Services Newsletter - Southeastern, PA

Drexel/Red Cross partnership familiarizes nursing students with disaster preparedness and with volunteerism

By Heather Kennell

While disasters are often unexpected, many of their effects are predictable and can be minimized with advance planning. Disaster planning allows community organizations to predetermine what levels of support will be required in the aftermath of small-and large-scale emergencies alike.

Though disasters may differ in scope and nature, they often bring about similar, repetitive and predictable types of damage and needs. With the rising occurrence of and potential for greater damage associated with man-made disasters in particular, community-based organizations can achieve greater results by partnering with groups throughout the field of healthcare in planning for disasters.

Grassroots Exercises

The Southeastern Pennsylvania (SEPA) Chapter of the American Red Cross, headquartered in Philadelphia, is dedicated to recruiting, training and building a corps of health services volunteers to increase communities' levels of preparedness for both large- and small-scale disasters in the area. To reach a higher level of preparedness, the local American Red Cross recently joined forces with the Drexel University College of Nursing and Health Professions (CNHP).

Increase Household Preparedness

The Drexel/Red Cross partnership is part of an innovative community-based alliance to increase overall emergency preparedness in households and neighborhoods throughout this region. The goal of this collaboration is for nursing students to be prepared to respond to small and large disasters such as fires and floods, as well as provide disaster preparedness training to roughly 65 Drexel undergraduate nursing students enrolled in the required community public health nursing course in the fall and 180 students in the spring.

The Drexel CNHP course has allotted two theory days and one clinical day, totaling 10 hours, for the "Introduction to Red Cross Disaster Services Overview," the "Disaster Health Services" course and a disaster tabletop exercise and simulation. These exercises offer a unique opportunity to take classroom training and put it to practice in the context of an actual disaster scenario.

For three days in November, 54 Drexel nursing faculty were trained in Red Cross disaster services. Although the faculty was generally aware of the work of the Red Cross, all agreed it was an eye-opening experience to learn about the planning and foresight needed to provide adequate relief when disaster strikes in the local community.

Activities scheduled for the fall include community walkthroughs and training nursing students with disaster simulations and exercises.

The Red Cross and Drexel University hope that as a result of taking part in this program, students will seek out opportunities for community involvement early in their career and understand the importance of volunteerism in maintaining the health of the community. Ideally, these students will consider joining the local Red Cross disaster health services volunteer corps once they become registered nurses.