Public Health response to Hurricane Sandy
Citation: Shipp Hilts A, Mack S, Eidson M, et al. New York State Public Health System response to Hurricane Sandy: An analysis of emergency reports. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. 2016:10(3);308-13.
Language: Abstract and full text available in EN.
Free to view: No.
Funding sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
What is this? In this qualitative analysis, the authors reviewed emergency reports from the New York State Department of Health and local health departments. They included reports between October 26 and November 21, 2012 that concerned Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Long Island. Reports from New York City were excluded. The authors included three after-action reports and 48 situation reports.
What was found: The most cited strengths of the New York State Department of Health were the coordination of emergency operations and sharing of information. The strengths for local health departments were care for large patient populations and handling the surge in demand for care. The most common challenges were protection of environmental health, coordination of emergency operations, recovery of communities, and sharing information.
Implications: The authors of the review stated that future studies should obtain feedback from a wider spectrum of public health and service providers to ensure better preparedness and response. The authors also recommended that post-disaster emergency reports should be systematically reviewed to identify successes and weaknesses.
Other considerations: The authors of the review discussed their findings in the context of place of residence, but did not discuss their findings in the context of other issues relating to health equity.
This summary was prepared by Beirut Ibrahim, checked by Jawaria Karim, and finalized by William Summerskill.