NURS FPX 4060 Assessment 2: Community Resources​

NURS FPX 4060 Assessment 2: Community Resources

  A community is defined as a social setting in which individuals live in closer proximity and share a variety of resources (Harrington et al., 2019). The term “community resources” refers to the institutions and groups engaged in delivering extensive and immediate services aimed at addressing societal demands. In order to utilize these resources wisely, community members must be informed about the different services available to help with personal, and professional support, and the management of community-based systems in their local area. 

Natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods cause economic and collateral damage yearly. To deal with such natural havoc, the Federal Agency of Emergency Management (FEMA) is an organization dedicated to tackling any natural catastrophe in a timely manner. 

Among the different community resources in the United States, the Federal Agency of Emergency Management (FEMA) is one such organization dedicated to establishing a resilient and robust community in response to natural catastrophe concerns in the region (Clark-Ginsberg et al., 2021). FEMA’s mission is to foster community-based cooperation to reduce the number of fatalities from catastrophic events in the area.

NURS FPX 4060 Assessment 2: Organizational Overview

The FEMA was established by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 through the 12127 Executive Order. Since its birth, FEMA is focused on helping people before, during, and after a natural disaster. FEMA’s goals are to instill equity in the community, helping the community on a wider level, and preparedness to tackle any situation at any time; reflect the level of commitment FEMA shows in serving the community. FEMA’s main responsibility is to oversee community readiness for hazards and to coordinate government efforts to mobilize the populace for coordinated actions. Furthermore, it collaborates with the National Programme for Flood Insurance to ensure that people cannot own homes in locations that are at potential risk of flooding. According to FEMA’s strategic plan for the years 2022-2026 (FEMA, 2023), three following goals will be observed,

• Promoting values like equity in the community.
• Leading the whole community to build climate resilience.
• Promoting preparedness in the community for tackling any natural catastrophe.

FEMA’s objective is to help individuals and volunteers in the community to coordinate and work together to ensure a timely response, protection, and mitigation of all types of hazards. Additionally, FEMA actively supports healthcare workers. According to information from FEMA’s official resources, the agency works with the Human Health Services Commission (HHSC) to guarantee the supply and availability of medical equipment and supplies in disaster situations. 

Additionally, it works with regional administrations to monitor the availability of tools and resources for testing procedures while developing effective screening procedures for the entire nation. FEMA is also striving to provide more care spaces to enable healthcare services other than community hospitals (Vocatura, 2022b). 

Additionally, regarding safety precautions, FEMA has the “Safe Rooms” mission, which offers money for tribal lands and other regional territories vulnerable to disasters. It distributes subgrants to the local governments for additional risk reduction, assuring reduced hazards to people and assets. 

Equal Opportunities and Quality of Life Promoted by FEMA

The Strategic Plan of FEMA for 2022 to 2026 established its primary mandate to ensure the quality of life. The main strategy to achieve this is by reducing the rate of mortalities and loss of life due to several reasons, for example, natural hazards, terrorist activities, and anthropogenic activities. It will also address the different social concerns of local inhabitants that function as a barrier to the ideal community’s social fabric. FEMA promotes a non-discriminative and just society when it comes to working for the rights and entitlements of the people who are included in the community. FEMA has also established a department named the Equal Rights Office. T

he main responsibilities of this office would be to ensure the liberties of civil equality and non-discrimination regarding the execution of different projects it is working on. Equal Rights Office by FEMA maintains the main values of justice, sympathy, honesty, and esteem to encourage incorporation and impartiality in the multiple community landscape (UNC, 2022).

Awareness-based initiatives

According to the rules of the Office of Equal Rights, the federal civil rights laws, and equal employment opportunities (EEO), reasonable accommodation of inhabitants are ensured. FEMA also devised many different programs and awareness-based initiatives to aware the public about social concerns that include social justice, health, and safety of life (FEMA, 2021). A framework for Natural Disasters Recovery is observed by FEMA that aims to reduce the damages caused to the environment and also promotes a community resilience program. 

The advantage of these programs is improving the quality of life. The quality of life is improved by providing social and economic opportunities providing them with basic necessities such as food and water supply, different ecosystem services, agricultural support, and recreation. (FEMA, 2021). For improving the individual’s employment opportunities and affordability, these policies are devised for the betterment of them and are a better way to ensure their wellness. 

Funding Sources and Policy Compliance of FEMA

FEMA gives the assurance of its legal identity and compliance according to authoritative policies so that it may add value to its mission and goals for the community. The policy compliance of FEMA is that it adheres to the Stafford Act 1988 (Perls, 2020). This act is based on providing relief services and emergency assistance in case of a disaster.  Stafford Act’s main objective is to assist in critical hazardous conditions; FEMA also collaborates with other legislative frameworks, such as the Code of Federal Regulations and the 1803 Congressional Act (Core, 2023).

The Stafford Act has been amended by the Act of Disaster Mitigation 2000. Specific laws are observed by FEMA following the amendments. The National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 and the Act of Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) are the updated reforms FEMA is working on (Crepelle, 2019).

FEMA has established a funding department named Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) which deals with all funding resources.  All funding-related responsibilities i.e., management, allocation, assessment, and monitoring are capabilities of this department in FEMA. DRF manages all the finances of the programs (FEMA, 2023b).

NURS FPX 4060 Assessment 2: Impact of Funding

The monetary assistance provided by DRF for the restoration and renovation of the public property after any disaster has a paramount impact on FEMA. Furthermore, DRF works collaboratively with the federal government departments, state, local, territorial, and tribal administrative bodies which assist FEMA in getting better support. The collaboration also enables FEMA to efficiently utilize emergency-management resources. DRF also works for securing patients’ health, financial assistance to hazard survivors, and fire restoration, and asset renovation after any bad event (Garrett, 2019).

Impact on Health and Safety Needs of Community  

The framework and operation of FEMA have been beneficial for catering social, individual, professional, and cultural needs of community members. Whereas it is not necessary that FEMA interventions have positive impacts on endeavors for natural disasters and catastrophes. The programs and initiatives by FEMA for community strengthening and resilience are designed for better threat prevention and mitigation for the community. It has different implications for different citizens (Smith, 2019).

FEMA has importantly functioned on a number of measures and strategies implemented for reducing the threat risk and equipping the community members to better manage the threat situation. The programs which deal with disasters and assist citizens are working on education, accountability, values, ethics, precision, and evidence-based programs (Zamuda & Ressler, 2020).  Citizens are helped by various ethical aid programs i.e., death ceremonies, shelters, and funerals which are imparting a positive impact on a community basis. Better livelihood and professional stability after disasters is also an important objective of FEMA under “Disaster Unemployment Assistance”. FEMA is helping in searching for new livelihoods and finding new ways for the financial revival of the citizens (Smith, 2019). The success of FEMA can be assessed by the stories and progressive strategies in managing 13000 disaster events and emergencies in the area (UNC, 2022). FEMA guarantees justice and fairness in aiding the unfortunate individuals affected by disasters. Inclusion, social equity, and advantages for the multicultural community are some prime principles of FEMA. FEMA has formulated an “Equity Action Plan” under the current governance of Joe Biden. It works for removing racial difference, and discrimination and ensures just administrative opportunities for under-privileged communities irrespective of any difference.

There are number of community initiatives for dealing with different differences, providing just opportunities for a multicultural community but there are different instances focusing on the need for more approaches to health justice (Emrich et al., 2022). It has been evaluated that the support provided for flood recovery in the coastal areas of the US is insufficient and unjust for the Black American community. A large number of community members have been displaced after the floods with massive asset deprivation.

Collaboration of Nurses with FEMA

Nurses can play a critical part in helping FEMA achieve its goals of managing and recovering from disasters. For example, nurses might collaborate with the administration and emergency response teams at their local hospitals to help develop plans for handling emergencies and disasters. Nurses also work as volunteers with FEMA to give emergency aid to catastrophe victims or survivors. Additionally, registered nurses can serve as instructors at FEMA platforms to help distribute the community resources available for the response plans (Ernstmeyer & Christman, 2022).

NURS FPX 4060 Assessment 2: Conclusion

   Thus, the Federal emergency management agency is an efficient organization educated to catering the needs of people before, during, and after a natural disaster. The mission of organization is to help the community prepare for, endure, and recover from disasters. FEMA is an active community resource that commits to fulfilling the social and personal needs of individuals. FEMA’s values of inclusion, fairness, and community members’ productivity reflect the dedication of the organization to help people in combating any natural disaster and calamity.

References:

Clark-Ginsberg, A., Easton-Calabria, L. C., Patel, S. S., Balagna, J., & Payne, L. A. (2021). When Disaster Management Agencies Create Disaster Risk: A Case Study Of The US’s Federal Emergency Management Agency. Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print). https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm-03-2021-0067 

Core, C. (2023). Index (A. V. Dicey & G. Conti, Eds.). Cambridge University Press; Cambridge University Press. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/albert-venn-dicey-writings-on-democracy-and-the-referendum/index/4B30E3AD84B35307B27123E3299E8BF9 

Crepelle, A. (2019). The Reservation Water Crisis: American Indians and Third World Water Conditions. Tulane Environmental Law Journal, 32(2), 157–188. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26661936 

Emrich, C. T., Aksha, S. K., & Zhou, Y. (2022). Assessing Distributive Inequities In FEMA’s Disaster Recovery Assistance Fund Allocation. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 74, 102855. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2022.102855 

Ernstmeyer, K., & Christman, E. (2022). Chapter 18 Environmental Health and Emergency Preparedness. In www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Chippewa Valley Technical College. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK590033/ 

FEMA. (2021). National Disaster Recovery Framework | FEMA.gov. Www.fema.gov. https://www.fema.gov/emergency-managers/national-preparedness/frameworks/recovery#:~:text=The%20National%20Disaster%20Recovery%20Framework 

FEMA. (2023a). 2022–2026 FEMA Strategic Plan | FEMA.gov. Www.fema.gov. https://www.fema.gov/about/strategic-plan#:~:text=The%202022%2D2026%20FEMA%20Strategic

NURS FPX 4060 Assessment 2

FEMA. (2023b). Disaster Relief Fund: Monthly Reports | FEMA.gov. Www.fema.gov. https://www.fema.gov/about/reports-and-data/disaster-relief-fund-monthly-reports 

Garrett, A. L. (2019). The Role of the Federal Government in Supporting Domestic Disaster Preparedness, Response, and Recovery. Current Treatment Options in Pediatrics, 5(3), 255–266. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40746-019-00162-7 

Harrington, C., Erete, S., & Piper, A. M. (2019). Deconstructing Community-Based Collaborative Design. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 3(CSCW), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1145/3359318 

Perls, H. (2020). U.S. Disaster Displacement in the Era of Climate Change: Discrimination & Consultation under the Stafford Act. Harvard Environmental Law Review, 44, 511. https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/helr44&div=16&id=&page= 

Smith, T. C. (2019). The Case For FEMA Adopting A Localized Advance Contracting Strategy: Addressing Major Challenges And Issues That Hindered Fema’s 2017 Hurricane Response And Recovery Efforts. Public Contract Law Journal, 49(1), 193–215. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27010351 

UNC. (2022). Equity in the Distribution of FEMA Disaster Mitigation Grants. Cdr.lib.unc.edu. https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/concern/honors_theses/k0698k08j

Vocatura, M. (2022a). Integrating FEMA and Scouts for Local Community Hazard Preparedness. Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects. https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/honors_research_projects/1544/ 

Vocatura, M. (2022b). Integrating FEMA and Scouts for Local Community Hazard Preparedness. Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects. https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/honors_research_projects/1544/ 

Zamuda, C. D., & Ressler, A. (2020). Federal Adaptation And Mitigation Programs Supporting Community Investment In Electricity Resilience To Extreme Weather. The Electricity Journal, 33(8), 106825. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tej.2020.106825