1 / 18

Pediatric Preparedness

Learn about the importance of injury prevention and disaster planning for children and adolescents. Discover strategies for safe play, general preparation, post-disaster survival, sheltering, and meeting pediatric needs. Find resources and tips for supporting children's resilience and recovery.

chantellea
Download Presentation

Pediatric Preparedness

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Pediatric Preparedness Susan Pollack MD, FAAP University of Kentucky Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine Dept. of Preventive Medicine and Environmental Health, College of Public Health and Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center shpoll@uky.edu 859-257-4954

  2. IMPORTANT!! • Injuries are the leading cause of death for children and adolescents, yet most injuries are preventable. Injury prevention in preparedness and for survivors is not a luxury to be ignored, it is an essential part of disaster planning, otherwise children who survived the initial event will die because we did not think ahead enough to protect them. • Children’s developmental job is to play and explore! Safe fun and adventure (both inside and outdoors) are important to kids’ normal development, well-being, processing of disaster events and resilient recovery.

  3. General Preparation Planning and development of collaborative efforts across local, regional, state and federal agencies/ levels, with inclusion of needs of infants, children being raised by grandparents and in foster care, children with special medical/developmental needs, and their caregivers. Encouragement of public preparedness by those agencies, including child- specific plans, notification of local EMS… \\

  4. Preparing for a Disaster Coming Consider evacuation (where to, how get there, what essentials go)

  5. Post-Disaster Survival Needs Gathering Family Shelter (warmth) Comfort Food Place to Sleep

  6. Post disaster shelter • More families will go to someone they know than a public shelter (friends may be better prepared to help with children/pets) • Families may try to shelter in car near home- risk of both hypo and hyperthermia to those in car, plus of carbon monoxide poisoning from running heater in car.

  7. Pediatric Needs in a Shelter • Formula, water, diapers • SAFE SLEEP for infants, cribs not cots, not inflatable mattresses! Suffocation risks • Replacement car seats/boosters for travel • Safe play area for toddlers • Respite helpful, help with needs of caregivers (parents/grandparents/foster parents) to keep them able to support kids

  8. What are the major infant injury issues? • Safe sleep- 60% of infant injury deaths from suffocation. Most in unsafe bedding. Beds and the “killer couch”. (Have you seen the bus?) • Age appropriate feeding- Tooth appropriate instead of age appropriate? Don’t walk and eat! Choking hazards include grapes, gum, popcorn, hot dogs, hard candy, gummy bears, meat.. • Never shake a baby/child abuse- No cruise, no bruise. We are all mandated to report abuse. • Child passenger safety (CPS): car seats. Buckle up on every ride, parents too- we need you!

  9. Pediatric Issues in Shelter • Food safety (both choking prevention for toddlers and food borne illness for all) • Immunization needs- pertussis protection, tetanus, flu potential…problems with vaccine storage and temperature. • Provision of safe play area for caregiver respite, protection of shelter elders and those who may be immunosuppressed.

  10. Communication with children • Talk with them- they know something is wrong. Cannot hide things- they know. • Answer their questions (ask what they know, or have heard), no need to give them information beyond what they ask, but do give them opportunity to express fears/concerns • Turn off TV after using any warnings- no need to see disaster repeated 100 times

  11. Resilience and recovery • Return to play/school can be good for children, signals return of normal structure. Don’t be offended that they “don’t care” • Look for signs of distress, build in time to address needs and not just school for exams and scores. • Listen to children, be truly present and not just on phone/text. Get mental health help for adult caregivers after trauma.

  12. Resources for Pediatric Preparedness • American Academy of Pediatrics (www.aap.org) • http://pediatricemergencypreparedness.org/Planning_Tools.html • http://www.inclusivepreparedness.org/

More Related