Health Talk – For affected calamity victims

Just recently, people were shocked to hear about the damage that hit the people of Haiti due to an earthquake and many lives were lost. Various fund raising activities organized by concerned group of people and even the famous celebrities and artists used their influence just to extend help to the poor and affected victims. People are aware that in when a certain calamity stroke a certain area in a country, the first concern of most people would be the safety and health of the affected victims. Whether it’s an earthquake, flood, volcanic eruption, or even an outbreak of a certain disease, the first concern of the people would always be the health condition of the victims since they may not always get the right nutrition because of the limited stock of food supply.

For the victims who needed immediate medical attention, it is a challenge for some hospitals especially if there is only a limited space for a number of patients. The victims could suffer from various medical conditions such as dehydration because the victim could have been trapped in a place where there is no source of water to drink. Some may suffer infection in their open wounds due to dirt, dust and in contact with other foreign bodies. There could be others would needs to undergo surgery due to some complicated medical conditions they incur during the calamity. There could be instances where they may experience shortage of resources like medical equipments, medicines or even some staff like nurses or doctors. First aid may only be good for a few moments but the victim could suffer further if not being attended directly by doctors or physicians.

The doctors and nurses may be able to address the medical concern of the victims and after that, the victims will only need to take their prescribed medicines for their recovery. However, recovery could be a challenge for a few of the victims especially if they may struggle to find proper nutrition with the food they are going to take. There could be instances where only a limited number of food may be distributed to the victims and it could only be could good for a few days. Because of the inadequate supply of food, most victims would only eat a few servings of the food they were given since can’t be sure that food will always be available and be delivered to them from other sources. Malnutrition can be since to almost every victim especially if the delivery of basic necessities like food, water, clothing and medicine may be delayed due to transportation difficulties other unexpected problems from the group of people assigned to deliver these services to the affected people.

These people may sometimes be placed in the same venue or evacuation center especially for those people who don’t anywhere else to go. The threat of the spread of communicable disease is just around the corner especially if the venue is not properly sanitized. They may not be provided with all the resources they need so that they will be able to clean their surroundings, and usually the victims’ concern is more on giving themselves the food their body needs. It is another health concern that many of the victims will need to face since they may not get all the nutrition they needed to combat diseases. Even clean drinking water may not be readily available in their area and will need for the bottled waters delivered from other places. The water in their place could be contaminated that is why, one is not always guaranteed that drinking their water is safe and they could suffer diarrhea or other digestive diseases.  Skin diseases can also be common to these people especially if they were a victim of floods where parts of their body were soaked under polluted water for a few hours.  For victims of volcanic eruptions, some may suffer from effects of the ash fall which can be poisonous to one’s health. They may even suffer from the cold environment in which they are located and with only a few clothing on hand, they could suffer from mild diseases like colds, fever, cough and other respiratory problems which can be complicated again because of poor nutrition and sanitation.

In times when people experience these kinds of unfortunate events in any parts of the world, one must take the time to impart help to these victims since they are nothing more compare to a delicate child that in any time, their bodies may easily break down because of poor nutrition. In one’s simple ways, one may be able to nurse them back to being healthy.