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 Hurricane
Katrina hit the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, and
earned a place in history as the most costly and destructive
natural disaster to occur in the U.S. The impact
was widespread, affecting thousands of people in Katrina’s
path, first responders and government agencies, and
many communities across the nation that provided shelter
for evacuees and assisted in response activities.
This
was an unprecedented test of our public health system's
preparedness and response capabilities. Challenges
in mass evacuations, communications, and environmental
health and safety issues exposed vulnerabilities in
disaster preparedness and planning across all levels
of government.
In this program we discuss the tough lessons learned
and share the experiences of public health leaders
and community partners in surviving and responding
to a disaster named Katrina.
Public Health Grand Rounds Goal
This program seeks to increase knowledge and awareness
of the critical lessons learned in the response to Hurricane
Katrina and enable participants to apply this knowledge
to best practices in community preparedness.
Objectives
- Describe three communication problems that challenged
the Katrina disaster response.
- Identify three concerns in evacuating vulnerable
populations from a disaster area.
- Describe two strategies to prevent infectious disease
outbreaks.
- Describe the public health response when hospital
systems are overwhelmed.
- Describe two factors that impacted coordination between
federal, state, and local public health partners.
- Discuss the need to anticipate behavioral reactions
to a disaster.
Target Audience
Leaders, managers, and professionals from local and
state health departments, hospitals, community-based
health organizations, boards of health, medical services,
emergency services, law enforcement, federal agencies,
academic institutions and others who are interested in
public health preparedness and the emergency response
to disasters.
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