Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T00:17:44.876Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Road to Resilience: Insights on Training Community Coalitions in the Los Angeles County Community Disaster Resilience Project

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 August 2016

Biblia S. Cha ,
Rachel I. Lawrence ,
Jesse C. Bliss ,
Kenneth B. Wells ,
Anita Chandra  and
David P. Eisenman
Biblia S. Cha*
Affiliation:
Center for Community Resilience, Office of Public Health Practice, Loma Linda University School of Public Health, Loma Linda, California
Rachel I. Lawrence
Affiliation:
Center for Community Resilience, Office of Public Health Practice, Loma Linda University School of Public Health, Loma Linda, California
Jesse C. Bliss
Affiliation:
Center for Community Resilience, Office of Public Health Practice, Loma Linda University School of Public Health, Loma Linda, California Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, Division of Public Health, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
Kenneth B. Wells
Affiliation:
Center for Health Services and Society, UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California
Anita Chandra
Affiliation:
RAND Justice, Infrastructure, and Environment, RAND Corporation, Arlington, Virginia
David P. Eisenman
Affiliation:
Emergency Preparedness and Response Program, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Center for Public Health and Disasters, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles, California.
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Biblia S. Cha, MPH, Center for Community Resilience, Office of Public Health Practice, Loma Linda University School of Public Health, 10970 Parkland St, Loma Linda, CA 92350 (e-mail: bskim@llu.edu).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objective

Local health departments (LHDs) have little guidance for operationalizing community resilience (CR). We explored how community coalitions responded to 4 CR levers (education, engagement, partnerships, and community self-sufficiency) during the first planning year of the Los Angeles County Community Disaster Resilience (LACCDR) Project.

Methods

Sixteen communities were selected and randomly assigned to the experimental CR group or the control preparedness group. Eight CR coalitions met monthly to plan CR-building activities or to receive CR training from a public health nurse. Trained observers documented the coalitions’ understanding and application of CR at each meeting. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze structured observation reports around the 4 levers.

Results

Analysis of 41 reports suggested that coalitions underwent a process of learning about and applying CR concepts in the planning year. Groups resonated with ideas of education, community self-sufficiency, and engagement, but increasing partnerships was challenging.

Conclusions

LHDs can support coalitions by anticipating the time necessary to understand CR and by facilitating engagement. Understanding the issues that emerge in the early phases of planning and implementing CR-building activities is critical. LHDs can use the experience of the LACCDR Project’s planning year as a guide to navigate challenges and issues that emerge as they operationalize the CR model. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;10:812–821)

Keywords

disaster planningemergency preparednesspublic healthcommunity health planningpublic health practice
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 10 , Issue 6 , December 2016 , pp. 812 - 821
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Chandra, A, Acosta, J, Stern, S, et al. Building community resilience to disasters: a way forward to enhance national health security. RAND Corporation. http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR915.html. Published 2011. Updated August 18, 2015. Accessed September 3, 2015.Google Scholar
2. The White House. National security strategy. http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/rss_viewer/national_security_strategy.pdf. Published May 2010. Accessed September 3, 2015.Google Scholar
3. US Department of Health and Human Services. National health security strategy of the United States of America. http://www.phe.gov/Preparedness/planning/authority/nhss/Documents/nhss0912.pdf. Published December 2009. Accessed September 3, 2015.Google Scholar
4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response. Public health preparedness capabilities: national standards for state and local planning. http://www.cdc.gov/phpr/capabilities/DSLR_capabilities_July.pdf. Published March 21, 2011. Updated July 22, 2011. Accessed September 3, 2015.Google Scholar
5. Federal Emergency Management Agency. National disaster recovery framework: strengthening disaster recovery for the nation. http://www.fema.gov/pdf/recoveryframework/ndrf.pdf. Published September 2011. Updated February 24, 2015. Accessed July 7, 2016.Google Scholar
6. Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. National health security strategy and implementation plan. US Department of Health and Human Services. http://www.phe.gov/Preparedness/planning/authority/nhss/Documents/nhss-ip.pdf. Published 2015. Retrieved January 4, 2016.Google Scholar
7. Plough, A, Fielding, JE, Chandra, A, et al. Building community disaster resilience: perspectives from a large urban county department of public health. Am J Public Health. 2013;103(7):1190-1197. http://dx.doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2013.301268.Google Scholar
8. Keim, ME. Building human resilience: the role of public health preparedness and response as an adaptation to climate change. Am J Prev Med. 2008;35(5):508-516. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2008.08.022.Google Scholar
9. Federal Emergency Management Agency. A whole community approach to emergency management: principles, themes and pathways for action. http://www.fema.gov/medialibrary-data/20130726-1813-25045-3330/whole_community_dec2011__2_.pdf. Published December 1, 2011. Updated May 1, 2014. Accessed September 3, 2015.Google Scholar
10. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Building a learning community & body of knowledge: implementing a whole community approach to emergency management. Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response. http://www.cdc.gov/phpr/documents/whole_community_program_report_october2013.pdf. Published October 2013. Accessed December 21, 2015.Google Scholar
11. Eisenman, D, Chandra, A, Fogleman, S, et al. The Los Angeles County Community Disaster Resilience project- a community-level, public health initiative to build community disaster resilience. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2014;11(8):8475-8490. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph110808475.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12. Schoch-Spana, M, Sell, TK, Morhard, R. Local health department capacity for community engagement and its implications for disaster resilience. Biosecur Bioterror. 2013;11(2):118-129. http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/bsp.2013.0027.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
13. Chandra, A, Williams, M, Plough, A, et al. Getting actionable about community resilience: the Los Angeles County Community Disaster Resilience Project. Am J Public Health. 2013;103(7):1181-1189. http://dx.doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2013.301270.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
14. Wells, KB, Tang, J, Lizaola, E, et al. Applying community engagement to disaster planning: developing the vision and design for the Los Angeles County Community Disaster Resilience initiative. Am J Public Health. 2013;103(7):1172-1180. http://dx.doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2013.301407.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
15. County of Los Angeles. Emergency survival guide. LA County Emergency. http://lacoa.org/pdf/emergencysurvivalguide-lowres.pdf. Published 2007. Updated May, 2015. Accessed September 3, 2015.Google Scholar
16. Alsei, P. Building enterprise-wide resilience by integrating business continuity capability into day-to-day business culture and technology. J Bus Contin Emer Plan. 2008;2(3):214-220(7). Accessed September 3, 2015.Google Scholar
17. Gajewski, S, Bell, H, Lein, L, Angel, RJ. Complexity and instability: the response of organizations to the recovery of Hurricane Katrina survivors in a host community. Nonprofit Volunt Sector Q. 2011;40(2):389-403. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0899764010362115.Google Scholar
18. Cho, JY, Lee, EH. Reducing confusion about grounded theory and qualitative content analysis: similarities and differences. Qual Rep. 2014;19(64):1-20.Google Scholar
19. Keating, A, Campbell, K, Mechler, R, et al. Operationalizing resilience against natural disaster risk: opportunities, barriers, and a way forward. Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance. http://opim.wharton.upenn.edu/risk/library/zurichfloodresiliencealliance_ResilienceWhitePaper_2014.pdf. Published 2014. Accessed September 3, 2015.Google Scholar
20. Sudmeier, KI, Jaboyedoff, M, Jaquet, S. Operationalizing “resilience” for disaster risk reduction in mountainous Nepal. Disaster Prev Manag. 2013;22(4):366-377. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/DPM-02-2013-0028.Google Scholar
21. Brose, DA. Developing a framework for measuring community resilience: summary of a workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 2015. http://dx.doi.org/10.17226/20672.Google Scholar
22. Stajura, M, Glik, D, Eisenman, D, et al. Perspectives of community-and faith-based organizations about partnering with local health departments for disasters. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2012;9(7):2293-2311. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph9072293.Google Scholar
23. McLaughlin, L. What have religious groups done after 3.11? Part 1: A brief survey of religious mobilization after the great east Japan earthquake disasters. Relig Compass. 2013;7(8):294-308. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/rec3.12057.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
24. Joshi, P. Faith-based and community organizations’ participation in emergency preparedness and response activities. Institute for Homeland Security Solutions. http://sites.duke.edu/ihss/files/2011/12/Faith-Based_DeskStudyFinalReport_3-16-10.pdf. Published February 2010. Accessed September 3, 2015.Google Scholar
25. De Vita, CJ, Kramer, FD. The role of faith-based and community organizations in providing relief and recovery services after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. http://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/alfresco/publication-pdfs/1001244-The-Role-of-Faith-based-and-Community-Organizations-in-Providing-Relief-and-Recovery-Services-after-Hurricanes-Katrina-and-Rita.PDF. Published December 2008. Accessed September 3, 2015.Google Scholar