712: Preparing for Tornadoes, Helping People with Disabilities During Emergencies

ROBERT JOHNSON: 

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Tuesday, July 23, 2024. I'm Robert Johnson. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

KRISTINA KINTZIGER: 

The obvious health impacts are the risk of injury and death associated with the immediate impact of a tornado.

JOHNSON: 

The list of concerns following a tornado goes beyond the obvious damage recovery and cleanup. Any storm-related event according to Dr. Kristina Kintziger, at the University of Nebraska, can also have long-term impacts on a community.

KINTZIGER: 

Post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety have been reported among children and adults who have experienced a tornado.

JOHNSON: 

Kintziger says the university works with public health agencies to help them prepare for tornadoes. She says it's important that every plan include preparedness education.

KINTZIGER: 

Encouraging people to have access to emergency supply kits or go bags, having plans for connecting with family members if you're separated during an event, having a plan for sheltering in place or evacuating.

JOHNSON: 

Another concern is that most people don't know the difference between a tornado watch and a tornado warning.

KINTZIGER: 

So teaching people what they mean and how they should respond is critical.

JOHNSON: 

ASTHO has a webpage dedicated to climate and health resources, you can find it using the link in the show notes.

When a public health emergency happens, it's important that agencies know how to help people living with disabilities. Nassira Nicola is with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

NASSIRA NICOLA: 

Across the board, people with disabilities tend to suffer the worst outcomes on basically any public health measure, and particularly any public health emerging crisis, where we're putting together a response that has to cover the broadest number of people in the shortest amount of time.

JOHNSON: 

ASTHO will host an online discussion about disability equity and emergency preparedness tomorrow, Wednesday, July 24, at 3:30 p.m EST. Nichola says the event has three goals. One is to make better use of disability data to understand what needs to be done.

NICOLA: 

Second, what some of the best practices are that we know about now for central site emergency response locations that are inclusive of people with disabilities. And finally, how to start better planning for and communicating with the public about those edge cases where a central site won't necessarily be adequate to serve people with disabilities, for whom that's just not going to be an accessible option no matter what you do.

JOHNSON: 

The webinar will draw on lessons learned from Massachusetts response to COVID 19.

NICOLA: 

And I think we're at a good place right now in our emergency preparedness journey. To sit back, take a look at some of the lessons we learned from those really panicked early days of the COVID pandemic.

JOHNSON: 

You can sign up for tomorrow's event by clicking the link in the show notes.

Also today, a new ASTHO report examines how adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities use Medicaid services. O'Keyla Cooper has more.

O'KEYLA COOPER: 

ASTHO in partnership with Guidehouse Consulting conducted a multi-state analysis to assess the use of various medical services among adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The report compares service utilization in adults with and without IDD and examines trends over time in Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming. Download the full report using the link in the show notes.

JOHNSON: 

Finally, this morning, new data approaches will give people in Guam more real time information about public health concerns like mosquitoes and restaurant inspections. Drake Taitano is with the health department in Guam.

DRAKE TAITANO: 

We have a mosquito and control vector program. We can map their trap sites and also at the trap sites map the different skill species that correlate to sites. We also have health regulated establishments that we can track and update real time whether they inspect it or not.

JOHNSON: 

ASTHO offers training for health ambassadors and has a webpage with resources about diseases spread by mosquitoes, fleas, and ticks. We've got the links in the show notes.

Before we go a reminder also to follow this newscast on your podcast player and connect with ASTHO on social media. We are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and X.

That'll do it for today. We're back tomorrow morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Robert Johnson. You're listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great day.