Topic 5 DQ 1

Re:Topic 5 DQ 1
The Caribbean nation of Haiti suffered a 7.0 magnitude earthquake on January 12, 2010. This resulted in over 200,000 deaths and over 600,000 injured or homeless, struggling to find the basic resources needed for survival. In my thinking, primary prevention would be with the building codes. At the time of the earthquake, there was NO building codes. In a perfect world, a force of nurses would act on an intervention of establishing safe, strict building codes with the officials. Haiti is built on a natural slope so buildings are weaker and prone to falling during a quake (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2010). Even now, they issue no more than 10 building permits a month. The people disregard the laws and the officials can do nothing to stop it. If codes would be followed, lives would have been saved.
Secondary prevention intervention would be education about the importance of clean water and sanitation, and providing water and water purification methods. Haiti had NO infrastructure before the earthquake hit, only 50% of the people had access to an improved water source. The people had to depend on lakes, streams, rivers for their water source, regardless of it cleanliness. Another 80% did not have adequate sanitation available. This intervention would have been good even before the earthquake, however, with so much destruction, the threat of cholera was real and teaching about safe disposal of human waste, providing latrines, and safe water sources would be more important than ever (The Borgen Project, 2015).
Tertiary prevention intervention would be help for the amputees that have been left with a lifelong challenge. People in Haiti with amputations need more than artificial limbs; they need prosthetic rehabilitation including not just the prosthesis but post-fabrication adjustments, physical conditioning, emotional, psychological, and post-traumatic stress disorder counseling, vocational rehabilitation, and social reintegration. Teams of volunteers would fly in and dedicate time to work with these people to get them back on their feet, so to speak (United States National Member Society of the international society for prosthetic and orthotics, n.d.). Providing funds to the Brac Limb and Brace Center would be a good start. This is an organization that provides low cost, high quality artificial limbs and braces (Global Giving website, n.d.).