Phoenix residents are joining health care professionals Monday afternoon in a discussion about emergency preparedness and the ethical concerns of providing care during a crisis.
“A lot of people feel that Arizona’s relatively safe … but you just never know what could happen here,” said Andrew Lawless, a training officer with the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Monday afternoon at the Phoenix Center for the Arts, Lawless will lead the two-hour meeting that will include surveys, presentations and an open discussion about the ethical issues of emergency planning. The Arizona Department of Health Services is hosting the meeting to gauge public opinion and priorities for a situation in which health care resources are scarce. It is the third in a series of four meetings this month.
In March 2012, the federal government released a report that outlined a national approach to emergency planning. Arizona policymakers are in the process of drafting a statewide plan. The plan will be completed by June 2014, Lawless said.
Four work groups composed of medical professionals and legal experts are drafting Arizona’s plan. Lawless said the public meetings allow the department to step back and see how the policy will affect residents.
“Our goals for these outreach meetings are twofold. We’re looking to find out how the public feels about these important preparedness issues … but also we want to use this as an opportunity to do some outreach and education,” Lawless said. “It reminds people to be prepared.”
Many Arizonans don’t realize what could happen in a state with few natural disasters, Lawless said. He listed wildfires, floods and widespread power outages as the greatest threats in Arizona. Power outages can be particularly dangerous in the summer heat, leaving people without working air conditioning. The spread of disease is also something the state plans to prepare for, Lawless said.
“No one’s immune from a pandemic,” Lawless said. “It doesn’t matter where you are geographically.”
During a crisis, hospitals could lose power or lack medicine, staff or even beds for patients. The state needs a response plan that prioritizes patients and shifts traditional medical operations to accommodate an influx of people, according to the March 2012 report.
Megan Jehn, an associate professor in ASU’s School of Human Evolution and Social Change, researches public health and emergency preparedness. Jehn works with the Arizona Department of Health Services and facilitated a community session at ASU on Nov. 7.
Jehn said she was impressed by the level of engagement she saw at that meeting, which drew around 60 or 70 undergraduate students.
“It’s important for us in developing these community guidelines to get sort of a broad representation of the community,” Jehn said. “As a faculty member, I can help the state health department access college students, who are typically underrepresented in community conversations but are a really important group that should be at the table.”
Students were given a short presentation on disasters and why crisis-care planning is needed. They were then given a few hypothetical scenarios and were asked if they agreed or disagreed with ways of delivering care. These scenarios ranged from an earthquake to the outbreak of a deadly virus, Jehn said.
“It was a great opportunity for us to educate and for the students to have their voices heard,” Jehn said. “Those opinions are going to be important for the policymakers as they’re putting these plans together.”
The goal of the meetings is to understand community values and ethical priorities in an emergency situation. It’s also an opportunity to communicate with residents about why these policies are even necessary, Jehn said.
“There’s an education piece to it. So why are we doing this, why is the state doing this? Why do we need these plans?” she said. “It’s a useful tool for us to educate the community about why we have to do this.”
Phoenix resident Dorina Bustamante plans to attend the meeting on Monday and get information on individual emergency preparedness.
“It’s a tough subject to think about. As we can see based on what’s happening around the world and in our own country, anything could happen at any time and it’s good to be prepared,” Bustamante said.
“I want to know how to help my family and help my community and also protect myself,” Bustamante said. “Those of us who attend can go back to family circles and share that information and start that conversation ahead of time about ethics and policy.”
Jehn agreed that the conversation about how to prioritize care and help as many people as possible in a disaster situation is sensitive but necessary.
“It’s not about withholding care,” Jehn said. “It’s about providing the best care to everyone during a situation where there’s not enough to go around.”
Contact the reporter at emregan1@asu.edu
