hurricane handling critique

A Critique on Handling a Hurricane Disaster
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A critique on handling a hurricane disaster
The vital role of healthcare providers in disasters such as hurricanes is to ensure that they are able to weather the storm by getting prior information from reliable sources, make sure that their patients are safe after the aftermath as well as continue providing medical services to those in need. However, most healthcare providers rarely succeed into putting into practice these disaster preparedness strategies.
Typical evidence where healthcare providers failed was in the case of hurricane Maria. The hurricane caused a massive disruption of electricity in Puerto Rico which affected hospitals as well. Hospitals had to rely on generators to ensure that they remained operational to help victims. Since the meteorological department had previously given a warning of its occurrence, it was expected that hospitals would have made sure that they had stocked enough fuel for generators and clean drinking water. However, it was unfortunate that some hospitals ran out of fuel to run generators making it impossible for them to deliver effective medical care since they needed to keep medicines cool and run their X-ray machines (Belluz, 2017). Victims with traumatic injuries like broken bones had to wait in pain for the fuel to be sourced which wasn’t ethical.
Similarly, the closure of hospitals and evacuation of patients before hurricane Irma struck in South Florida was unethical.

The hospitals were supposed to act as centers that could help victims of the disaster instead of closing down. Their closure led to many victims being stranded and dying for lack of medical care. I believe that the only hospitals that were supposed to close down were the ones that the meteorological department had warned about the possibility of being struck by Irma.
Hurricane Jose led to a looming crisis of lack of safe drinking water. The town of Bermuda had its water systems disrupted, and victims couldn’t access safe drinking water. The most affected were victims of existing medical problems like diabetes. They were not getting fluids, so they faced the risk of being dehydrated. Hospitals too had run out of clean water to give to the dehydrated patients (Belluz, 2017). Putting the life of a patient in jeopardy due to lack of an essential resource like water is unacceptable. The hospitals were supposed to ensure that they had enough fluids to see them through the disaster.
Based on the above facts, it is clear that healthcare providers failed in the handling of hurricane disasters hence they need to look at the loopholes and make the necessary corrections. For instance, they should ensure they have been operational throughout, have adequate medicines, power backups and fluids in case of emergencies.

References
Belluz, J. (2017, September 29). I’ve never seen such resilient people”: doctors and nurses on the ground in Puerto Rico. p. 1.