Health and Governmental Policies Impacting Disaster Recovery Efforts Capella 4060 Assessment 3

Health and Governmental Policies Impacting Disaster Recovery Efforts

Several health and governmental policies have been developed to promote disaster preparedness and recovery management. One of these policies is the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000, which authorizes FEMA’s requirement in local, state, and Indian tribal governments undergo mitigation planning in order to acquire post-disaster mitigation grant aid. This act promotes disaster recovery efforts by providing requirements for local mitigation plans and authorizes the utilization of Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds up to 7%.  By following the provisions of this act, community members will be able to achieve quick mitigation activities to reduce the disaster’s impact on their lives (FEMA, 2023).

Another policy of The Post-Katrina Emergency Reform Act of 2006 stresses the shortcomings in the preparation for and response to Hurricane Katrina by defining the role of agency in emergency management. It also established and maintained a National Preparedness Goal and National Preparedness Systems so that disasters can be better managed and mitigated. The potential implications of the implementation of provisions of this policy are better designing of disaster recovery efforts as it provides direction for the development of the National Disaster Recovery Strategy and National Disaster Housing Strategy.

These strategies aim to provide guidance on how to recover from a disaster and gather all governmental and private stakeholders to fulfill the immediate housing needs of affected individuals to restore and rebuild their life (FEMA, 2023). The implications of these policies for community members will be immediate recovery from disaster and improved quality of life which is deteriorated by disasters. 

Communication Strategies to Enhance Interprofessional Collaboration 

To perform effective disaster recovery efforts, there is a need for interprofessional collaboration. In times of disasters, communication is necessary to collaborate with interprofessional teams and several strategies can be utilized to overcome communication barriers. A few of them can be: 

• Educating interprofessional personnel to know about their responsibilities so everyone can know about what they are doing and conveying by having shared vision and goals
• Using non-verbal communication in concise and clear ways such as facial expressions, postures, and eye contact. For example, your body language should facilitate conveying your words and should hint at your openness to the information that has been sent as a team member is probably going to speak openly if you are relaxed, have a friendly attitude, and use an open posture with arms and legs uncrossed. Eye contact also plays an important role, as a lot of eye contact can cause intimidation, and too little can show your nervousness. 
• Implementing two-way communication in terms of giving and receiving feedback (Renfro et al., 2018)

These evidence-based strategies play a key role in enhancing interprofessional collaboration to improve disaster recovery efforts by overcoming the communication barriers among them. As the interprofessional teams with shared vision and goals have a firm grasp on their delegated duties, their communication will be clear and everyone will be processing the information as soon as they recieve.

Non-verbal communication will promote better communication in times of disaster where quick and prompt transmission of information and corresponding action is required. Lastly, applying a give-and-receive feedback communication strategy will ensure both team members are on the same point and have double checked the information.  The implications and potential consequences of these communication strategies are quick recovery from disasters, improved health and safety of affected people, and fewer mortalities.

Conclusion

Thank you for your patience, we have reached the conclusion of our presentation. In this presentation, we discussed the purpose of a disaster recovery plan which is influenced by various factors such as social, cultural, and economic factors. Then, we discussed the principles of social justice and cultural sensitivity which can promote health equity and an overall healthy society. Then we discussed the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 and the Post-Katrina Emergency Reform Act of 2006 and how they can improve disaster recovery among community members. Lastly, we studied some communication strategies to overcome the barriers such as shared goals, two-way communication, and non-verbal communication. Here we are ending our presentation, if you have any questions please feel free to ask.

References

FEMA. (2023, March 23). National level exer