- Award ID(s):
- 1724433
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10346085
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Frontiers in Environmental Science
- Volume:
- 10
- ISSN:
- 2296-665X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Lankes, R.David (Ed.)Resilience is often treated as a single-dimension system attribute, or various dimensions of resilience are studied separately without considering multi-dimensionality. The increasing frequency of catastrophic natural or man-made disasters affecting rural areas demands holistic assessments of community vulnerability and assessment. Disproportionate effects of disasters on minorities, low-income, hard-to-reach, and vulnerable populations demand a community-oriented planning approach to address the “resilience divide.” Rural areas have many advantages, but low population density, coupled with dispersed infrastructures and community support networks, make these areas more affected by natural disasters. This paper will catalyze three key learnings from our current work in public librarians’ roles in disaster resiliency: 1) rural communities are composed of diverse sub-communities, each which experiences and responds to traumatic events differently, depending on micro-geographic and demographic drivers; 2) public libraries are central to rural life, providing a range of informational, educational, social, and personal services, especially in remote areas that lack reliable access to community resources during disasters; and 3) rural citizens tend to be very self-reliant and are committed to strengthening and sustaining community resiliency with local human capital and resources. Public libraries and their librarian leaders are often a “crown jewel” of rural areas’ community infrastructure and this paper will present a community-based design and assessment process for resiliency hubs located in and operated through rural public libraries. The core technical and social science research questions explored in the proposed paper are: 1) Who were the key beneficiaries and what did they need? 2) What was the process of designing a resiliency hub? 3) What did library resiliency hubs provide and how can they be sustained? This resiliency hub study will detail co-production of solutions and involves an inclusive collaboration among researchers, librarians, and community members to address the effects of cascading impacts of natural disasters. The novel co-design process detailed in the paper reflects 1) an in-depth understanding of the complex interactions among libraries, residents, governments, and other agencies by collecting sociotechnical hurricane-related data for Calhoun County, Florida, USA, a region devastated by Hurricane Michael (2018) and hard-hit by Covid-19; 2) analyzed data from newly-developed fusing algorithms and incorporating multiple communities; and 3) co-designed resiliency hubs sited in public libraries. This research leverages a unique opportunity for the co-development of integrated library-centered policies and technologies to establish a new paradigm for developing disaster resiliency in rural settings. Public libraries serve a diverse population who will directly benefit from practical support tailored to their needs. The project will inform efficient plans to ensure that high-need groups are not isolated in disasters. The knowledge and insight gained from disseminating the study’s results will not only improve our understanding of emergency response operations, but also will contribute to the development of new disaster-related policies and plans for public libraries, with a broader application to rural communities in many settings.more » « less
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Lankes, R. David (Ed.)Resilience is often treated as a single-dimension system attribute, or various dimensions of resilience are studied separately without considering multi-dimensionality. The increasing frequency of catastrophic natural or man-made disasters affecting rural areas demands holistic assessments of community vulnerability and assessment. Disproportionate effects of disasters on minorities, low-income, hard-to-reach, and vulnerable populations demand a community-oriented planning approach to address the “resilience divide.” Rural areas have many advantages, but low population density, coupled with dispersed infrastructures and community support networks, make these areas more affected by natural disasters. This paper will catalyze three key learnings from our current work in public librarians’ roles in disaster resiliency: rural communities are composed of diverse sub-communities, each which experiences and responds to traumatic events differently, depending on micro-geographic and demographic drivers. Rural citizens tend to be very self-reliant and are committed to strengthening and sustaining community resiliency with local human capital and resources. Public libraries are central to rural life, providing a range of informational, educational, social, and personal services, especially in remote areas that lack reliable access to community resources during disasters. Public libraries and their librarian leaders are often a “crown jewel” of rural areas’ community infrastructure and this paper will present a community-based design and assessment process for resiliency hubs located in and operated through rural public libraries. The core technical and social science research questions explored in the proposed paper are: 1) Who were the key beneficiaries and what did they need? 2) What was the process of designing a resiliency hub? 3) What did library resiliency hubs provide and how can they be sustained? This resiliency hub study will detail co-production of solutions and involves an inclusive collaboration among researchers, librarians, and community members to address the effects of cascading impacts of natural disasters. The novel co-design process detailed in the paper reflects an in-depth understanding of the complex interactions among libraries, residents, governments, and other agencies by collecting sociotechnical hurricane-related data for Calhoun County, Florida, USA, a region devastated by Hurricane Michael (2018) and hard-hit by Covid-19. We analyzed data from newly developed fusing algorithms and incorporating multiple communities and developed a framework and process to co-design resiliency hubs sited in public libraries. This research leverages a unique opportunity to library-centered policies and technologies to establish a new paradigm for developing disaster resiliency in rural settings. Public libraries serve a diverse population who will directly benefit from practical support tailored to their needs. The project will inform efficient plans to ensure that high-need groups are not isolated in disasters. The knowledge and insight gained from the resiliency hub design process will not only improve our understanding of emergency response operations, but also will contribute to the development of new disaster related policies and plans for public libraries, with a broader application to rural communities in many settings.more » « less
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Organizations and communities learn by collecting information both from their direct, experiences and by observing others. Information is translated into knowledge, which is disseminated and used to inform subsequent planning, decisions and actions. Among the experiences and observations of organizations and communities that can be translated into knowledge are crises and disasters, including infections disease outbreaks, water contamination events and natural disasters. Organizational and community learning occurs when knowledge generated in response to crises is applied and when previous events serve as the basis for informing responses to an anticipated risk or emerging crisis. Trial-and-error learning is an ongoing process of experimentation, assessment and evaluation. Through trial and error, it is possible to determine that an activity does not produce desired outcomes, allowing for strategies to be adjusted and refined. Communities and organizations also benefit from observing others facing similar threats and learn from their failures and successes. Vicarious learning is bolstered through publicly available information, such as media reports and web presence, and access to networks of similar organizations. Crises can provide opportunities to re-evaluate fundamental assumptions, norms, processes, structures, plans, technologies, and overall performance. This session provides an overview of learning from crises and presents cases from the COVID-19 pandemic response, water contamination events, and natural disasters. The COVID-19 response in the City of Detroit offers important lessons about public health disparities, community engagement, and sustained responses. Cases studies of learning from the Flint Water Crisis and the Toledo Water Crisis illustrate how organizations and communities can translate experience into knowledge. Natural disasters can reveal systemic vulnerabilities and deficiencies in knowledge. Winter Storm Uri impacted Texas in mid-February 2021, bringing cold temperatures, record-levels of snow, and damaging ice and devastating the electrical grid, prompting widespread boil water notices. This case provides lessons about informing the public about emerging risks and about how they respond. These cases show how organizational learning may help organizations and communities prevent the repetition of a similar crisis, plan and respond more effectively.more » « less
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Background Rural and remote communities were especially vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic due to the availability and capacity of rural health services. Research has found that key issues surrounded (1) the lack of staff, (2) the need for coordinated health services, and (3) operational and facility issues. Similarly, research also confirms that irrespective of hospital capacity issues existing during crisis, compared to urban communities, rural communities typically face poorer access to health services. Telehealth programs have long held promise for addressing health disparities perpetuated by inadequate health care access. In response to the current COVID-19 pandemic, Adventist Health Saint Helena Hospital, a rural hospital in northern California, urgently worked to expand telehealth services. However, as Adventist Health Saint Helena Hospital is the longest-serving rural hospital in the state of California, administrators were also able to draw on experiences from the pandemic of 1918/1919. Understanding their historically rural and heavily Latino populations, their telehealth approach was coupled with cultural approaches for prioritizing socially responsive and equitable access to health services.
Objective This study aimed to present one rural community’s holistic sociotechnical response to COVID-19 in redesigning their health care delivery approach. Redesign efforts included the expansion of digital health services coupled with county-wide collaborations for nondigital mobile health centers, testing, and vaccination clinics to meet the needs of those with limited digital access and language barriers.
Methods We present data on telehealth services for maintaining critical care services and a framework on the feasibility of private-public partnerships to address COVID-19 challenges.
Results In this paper, we provide a critical review of how a rural hospital adapted its health care approach to incorporate telehealth services and distance services to meet the needs of a diverse population.
Conclusions This paper contributes empirical data on how rural communities can use telehealth technologies and community partnerships for a holistic community approach to meet health needs during a natural disaster.
Conflicts of Interest None declared.
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Objective We aimed to identify opportunities for application of human factors knowledge base to mitigate disaster management (DM) challenges associated with the unique characteristics of the COVID-19 pandemic. Background The role of DM is to minimize and prevent further spread of the contagion over an extended period of time. This requires addressing large-scale logistics, coordination, and specialized training needs. However, DM-related challenges during the pandemic response and recovery are significantly different than with other kinds of disasters. Method An expert review was conducted to document issues relevant to human factors and ergonomics (HFE) in DM. Results The response to the COVID-19 crisis has presented complex and unique challenges to DM and public health practitioners. Compared to other disasters and previous pandemics, the COVID-19 outbreak has had an unprecedented scale, magnitude, and propagation rate. The high technical complexity of response and DM coupled with lack of mental model and expertise to respond to such a unique disaster has seriously challenged the response work systems. Recent research has investigated the role of HFE in modeling DM systems’ characteristics to improve resilience, accelerating emergency management expertise, developing agile training methods to facilitate dynamically changing response, improving communication and coordination among system elements, mitigating occupational hazards including guidelines for the design of personal protective equipment, and improving procedures to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of response efforts. Conclusion This short review highlights the potential for the field’s contribution to proactive and resilient DM for the ongoing and future pandemics.more » « less