Citation

Gautman K. J. Public Health Manag. Pract. 1998; 4(4): 79-86.

Affiliation

School of Public Health, Saint Louis University, Missouri, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1998, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

10186763

Abstract

This case study examines the organizational problems of Missouri Department of Health (DOH) while providing flood relief in 1993. It reveals low awareness of DOH's emergency plan, disorganized information collection, and perceptions that federal flood relief was "resource-driven," not "need-driven." Lessons for other health departments are (1) Information collection during disasters should be centralized. (2) Health departments should train district offices to carry out their emergency plan, and include local health departments in emergency planning. (3) Federal and state agencies providing emergency aid should be sensitive to the needs of district and local health departments.

Language: en