Exploring Disaster Human Services for Children and Youth From Hurricane Katrina to the Paradise Wildfires: Proceedings of a Workshop Series (2021) / Chapter Skim
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6 Workshop Reflections
6 Workshop Reflections
Pages 87-94
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From page 87... ...
Panelists included Heather Beal, founder and president of BLOCKS Inc.; Sherlita Amler, commissioner of the Westchester County, New York, Department of Health; Joelle Simpson, medical director of emergency preparedness at Children's National H ospital; and Tarah Somers, regional director, Region 1 of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. The discussion was moderated by Roberta Lavin, professor at the University of New Mexico College of Nursing.
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From page 88... ...
Professionals should integrate knowledge about the effect of childhood trauma into the development of policies and procedures. Lastly, she suggested enhancing mental health support through programs such as the psychological first aid program, which can help children learn to cope with the effects of trauma and enable them to successfully navigate difficult circumstances.1 Simpson's main lesson was the importance of interweaving services for children, including the education system, health care system, social services, and case management.
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From page 89... ...
Thus, there is not a solid understanding of the infrastructure that exists. Given the lack of a critical infrastructure sector for human services, Lavin asked for suggestions to strengthen the infrastructure and build the knowledge base.
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From page 90... ...
Beal remarked that a human services sector needs to be built in which child care is defined as critical infrastructure. Child care includes tangible structures, such as child care centers and schools, in addition to the services it offers.
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From page 91... ...
More engagement is needed, beginning with emergency management systems and establishing a larger leadership role for human services and agencies such as the Administration for Children and Families (ACF)
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From page 92... ...
Child care, education, environmental health, and mental health are all important needs, so breaking down the barriers between silos to share data and best practices with one another improves the work of each profession. Supporting Children and Youth in School Settings Given that children spend much of their day in school settings, Lavin asked how schools can be better used to provide disaster-related education of teachers and students -- and perhaps of community members and volunteers as well.
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From page 93... ...
Monitoring and Evaluation of Support Efforts Lavin asked about strategies to monitor and evaluate the performance of disaster response and recovery efforts as they relate to human and social services. One strategy would be to fund disaster research specific to human services and encourage researchers to use available ACF data for assessment.
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From page 94... ...
Lavin pointed out that data collection and evaluation efforts are far more feasible for large corporations than for small, not-for-profit organizations who do not have the staff capacity to conduct these activities. Closing reflections called for strengthening child care infrastructure, placing the needs of children in the center of disaster preparation efforts, increasing resource and data accessibility, supporting interdisciplinary collaboration including considerations of the impact of trauma, better educating children about disaster preparedness, and monitoring and evaluating response and recovery efforts.
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