Health-Care and Supportive Services in General Population Disaster Shelters

Area of Science:

• Disaster health services
• Emergency response frameworks
• Functional needs assessment

Background:

• Emergency response requires identifying diverse functional needs.
• Existing methods may lack standardization.
• The C-MIST framework offers a structured approach.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the utility of the C-MIST framework in identifying client needs.
• To analyze needs and actions documented in shelters post-Hurricane Florence.
• To inform standardized functional needs assessment in disaster settings.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective review of 1209 C-MIST documentation tools.
• Data collected from domestic general population shelters after Hurricane Florence (2018).
• Summary statistics computed for needs and actions.

Main Results:

• High incidence needs: medical supplies (15.4%), special diets (12.2%), durable medical equipment (9.7%), mental health care (8.8%), transportation (8.4%).
• High incidence actions: replacement medication (9.3%), mental health referrals (6.4%), mobility equipment (5.1%), diabetes supplies (5.0%), transportation (3.9%).

Conclusions:

• The C-MIST framework is valuable for standardizing needs identification in shelters.
• Findings underscore the importance of addressing medical, dietary, mental health, and transportation needs.
• Standardization improves the efficiency and effectiveness of disaster response services.