A recent report finds that while California is one of the nation’s leading states in taking actions to bring its racially and ethnically diverse communities into preparing for and responding to public health emergencies, there remain persistent individual and institutional barriers to meeting their needs when fires, floods, disease and other events occur. The authors of the report also fear that the continued strain of the economic crisis on emergency preparedness efforts, compounded with the prospect of El Nino and an H1N1 outbreak in the fall, could further impede these efforts in California and across the nation at a time when they are most critical.
The report, California’s Emergency Preparedness Efforts for Culturally Diverse Communities: Status, Challenges and Directions for the Future, is considered to be a first-of-its-kind study in that no other state has undertaken such a comprehensive review of its emergency preparedness, response and recovery capacity and actions for racially and ethnically diverse residents.
The study was conducted by researchers at the Center for Health Equality at the Drexel University School of Public Health with support from The California Endowment and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health.
“California is a state rich in racial and ethnic diversity that has a long history of facing and responding to a wide range of disasters, and has devoted significant attention at the state and local levels to tailor preparedness efforts for its diverse communities,” said Dr. Dennis P. Andrulis, the director of the Center for Health Equality. “Yet, this was the first explicit effort to review and assess the effectiveness of current programs, and identify challenges and gaps toward reaching and engaging these communities in promoting effective preparedness efforts.”
The report highlights promising findings, such as state, local and community resources, particularly in Southern California and the Bay Area region, that are tailored to address diverse population needs, but also points to persistent socioeconomic, cultural and linguistic barriers faced by individuals and communities. The report additionally discusses challenges encountered by planning and response agencies, including limited capacity and funding for cultural competence education, language assistance and other culturally and linguistically appropriate services.
“The findings of this study indicate that challenges and barriers to preparedness among diverse communities are not new, but deeply rooted in social, economic and political world within which people live and work,” said Andrulis. “While progress has been made, we are concerned that budget cuts could lead to an erosion of recent advances and undermine the preparedness of racial and ethnic minorities.”
Drawing on the findings of the study, the researchers outlined a series of priorities to address current challenges and better prepare diverse communities for emergencies, including:
- Ensuring the inclusion of community representatives across preparedness and response planning, implementation and evaluation.
- Focusing on preparedness needs within their broader community contexts, such as poverty, housing, employment, and transportation.
- Encouraging greater flexibility in allocating state and local funds to support innovative partnerships with community and faith-based organizations, as well as the delivery of culturally and linguistically appropriate programs and services.
“We are increasingly focused on ensuring that our culturally diverse communities are represented across disaster planning, response and recovery,” said Dr. Alonzo Plough, Director of Emergency Preparedness and Response at the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health, who was previously Vice President for Strategy, Research and Evaluation at The California Endowment and supervised the report. “This study serves not only as a milestone, but also a guide to improve quality and equality in preparing for and responding to diverse communities.”
“This report can also be used to help identify priorities and community assets for developing culturally and linguistically appropriate preparedness plans and programs in California, as well as serve as a model for other states,” said Andrulis.
The researchers’ analysis included a review of current literature to examine how racial and ethnic minorities in the state have historically faired in disasters. This was followed by a review of Web sites of public and private sector emergency preparedness agencies at the state, regional and local levels. In addition, the researchers interviewed individuals representing a range of regions, sectors and areas of expertise within California and convened an expert panel to discuss recent achievements and remaining priorities for the state.