Including Homeless Populations in Disaster Preparedness, Planning, and Response: A Toolkit for Practitioners

This article describes the development of the toolkit. The toolkit is divided into 3 sections: Creating an inclusive emergency management system;Planning for service continuity; andGuidance for health care providers. Section 1 provides guidance to homeless service providers and government entities in identifying collaborative relationships to ensure that services are available to address homeless populations' disaster needs. Section 2 offers nonprofit homeless service providers guidance in creating their disaster response plans. Section 3 aims to ensure that public health officials and health care systems have the capacity to provide health care to homeless populations during disasters. Implementation: Efforts are under way to develop a disaster preparedness training manual to assist nonprofit homeless service organizations. Discussion: Homeless service providers are vital partners in disaster response. Integrating them into emergency management and ensuring that they are adequately prepared for disasters will effectively enable them to contribute their unique skill sets to community disaster recovery.
Source: Journal of Public Health Management and Practice - Category: Health Management Tags: Practice Full Report Source Type: research