NYU Wk 5 Humanitarian Disaster Caused by Flint Michigan Water Project Discussion

IMPORTANT NOTE REGARDING WORD LIMIT REQUIREMENTS:

Please note that each and every assignment has its own word limit.

A Recent Humanitarian Disaster

A recent humanitarian disaster is the Flint, Michigan’s water crisis, which caused serious health-related illness and was a threat to public health. The Flint water crisis occurred when aging pipes in the city started depositing high levels of lead into the city’s water supplies. This caused the officials to rely on the flint river as an alternative water source. However, after the water supply switch, the city did not use any anti-corrosion-control treatments to maintain or stabilize the levels of lead in the water. This action caused lead poisoning, skin diseases, respiratory illness, neurological health issues (memory loss, cognitive-developmental problems, and mental and behavioral issues), and elevated blood lead levels (Ruckart et al., 2019).

The effect of community mobilization, citizen engagement, and communication emergency

Community mobilization is the process of using various communication methods to address health issues and becoming part of the steps for behavioral and social change by working together with community leaders and members. This method was utilized by the citizens using their rights to protest about the inhuman conditions they were living in. Additionally, the citizens utilized various communication channels to distribute information about the condition, such as social media, news media platforms, and radio platforms, etc. This allowed government officials to create a partnership with various agencies like the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), CDC, Agency for Toxic Substances and Diseases Registry (ATSDR), Michigan Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (CLPPP), EPA, the National Sanitation Foundation International (NSFI), the Greater Flint Health Coalition, and the Flint Registry, to work on addressing the situation (Ruckart et al., 2019; Schiavo, 2014).

Citizen engagement is the process of involving the general public in both political processes and policy debated. This type of engagement geared towards citizens is important because it improves the quality and effectiveness of the policies (Schiavo, 2014). This method was used when citizens engaged in helping each other, especially those who resided outside the affected area by providing donations, such as money and water bottles and water filters.

Communication emergency is the process of communication in an emergency situation and engaging in a collaborative approach to addressing and providing solutions for the health-related issue. This method was used when an emergency response, declared by Michigan’s governor and the president of the U.S., was initiated to address the Flint water crisis. This response activated the collaboration between the HHS, CDC, ATSDR, CLPPP, EPA, NSFI, and GFHC. This collaboration addressed the situation by providing solutions to the issues, such as implementing water filters within homes, using various chemicals and methods to reduce the levels of lead in the water, replacing and renovating the aging-lead pipes, and any other infrastructure that has corroding lead-based fixtures. Also, with the collaboration between Michigan’s HHS Lead Safe Home Program and Medicare & Medicaid Services Children Insurance Program, they were able to create a program that funded and provided healthcare for children that were exposed to lead (Ruckart et al., 2019; Schiavo, 2014).

Factors to consider when communicating during a public health emergency or crisis

When communicating during a public health emergency or crisis, various factors, such as a clear, consistent, and impactful message is required. Time management is important because those in a partnership needs to demonstrate timeliness. Good leadership abilities and the ability of critical thinking. Lastly, utilizing mass media, such as social media to distribute public health messages and information.

Reference

Ruckart, P. Z., Ettinger, A. S., Hanna-Attisha, M., Jones, N., Davis, S. I., & Breysse, P. N. (2019). The Flint Water Crisis: A Coordinated Public Health Emergency Response and Recovery Initiative. Journal of public health management and practice, 25, 84–90. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1097/PHH.0000000000000871

Schiavo, R. (2014). Health communication: From theory to practice (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Respond to the bold paragraph ABOVE by using one of the option below… in APA format with At least two references and a minimum of 200 words….. .(The List of References should not be older than 2016 and should not be included in the word count.) Include at least one scholarly reference and appropriate in-text citations and Address all points on the DQ. One point will be deducted for not addressing each item mentioned above. Remember that presenting someone else’s work as your own is plagiarism.

• Ask a probing question.
• Share an insight from having read your colleague’s posting.
• Offer and support an opinion.

• Validate an idea with your own experience.
• Make a suggestion.
• Expand on your colleague’s posting.

Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the Learning Resources.

It is important that you cover all the topics identified in the assignment. Covering the topic does not mean mentioning the topic BUT presenting an explanation from the context of ethics and the readings for this class

To get maximum points you need to follow the requirements listed for this assignments 1) look at the word/page limits 2) review and follow APA rules 3) create subheadings to identify the key sections you are presenting and 4) Free from typographical and sentence construction errors.

REMEMBER IN APA FORMAT JOURNAL TITLES AND VOLUME NUMBERS ARE ITALICIZED.