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pece_annotation_1476642005

erin_tuttle
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The article has been referenced extensively in recent years, particularly in articles dealing with the refugee crisis such as “Mental Health Impact of Hosting Disaster Refugees”, and in over a dozen other articles dealing with both specific disasters and the more general effect on the civilian population as disasters are publicized.

pece_annotation_1476641836

erin_tuttle
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In response to

Emily Goldman is an epidemiologist with a background in public health, she currently works for NYU College of Global Public Health and teaches a course in psychiatric epidemiology. Sandro Galea is an epidemiologist and physician working at Columbia University, he currently sits on two New York City councils for Hygiene and Public Health.

pece_annotation_1476641985

erin_tuttle
Annotation of
In response to

Emergency response is addressed primarily through preventative measures that may minimize the trauma of a disaster. The article suggests that high risk locations need stronger adherence to regulations for buildings, as well as constantly stocked shelters for evacuated individuals to go to during a disaster. Emergency response is also discussed through the statistics given on mental illnesses present in emergency responders after a disaster. The article does not suggest methods of minimizing risk to emergency responders, however the focus on community and government support for victims of a disaster also applies to the strong communities that form among emergency responders.

pece_annotation_1476641957

erin_tuttle
Annotation of
In response to

The article supports the claim with statistics of mental illness and experience related data taken from interviews with both patients and doctors. The style of the article also highlights the authors’ claims in a way that is understandable for readers without experience in that subject by including definitions and working from micro to macro scales as the article progresses.

pece_annotation_1476641935

erin_tuttle
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  • “interest in how disasters could influence communities and result in large-scale effects, as well as interest in the mental and physical health consequences of different types of disasters, the influence of context on risk to mental health, and the distinct needs of different types of disaster victims.” (170)
  • “Consistent with life-course epidemiologic perspectives (37), characteristics or experiences of individuals before, during, and after a disaster may influence mental health outcomes and interact to produce psychopathology.” (174)
  • “The key functions of pre-disaster preparation efforts are to prevent or minimize exposure to potentially traumatic disaster-related events and reduce likelihood of additional post-disaster stressors, which are both associated with post-disaster mental disorders. Local governments and communities can reduce the likelihood and severity of disaster exposure” (176)

pece_annotation_1476642064

erin_tuttle
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  • I was interested in the portion of the article that referred to the initial scientific understanding of post-traumatic stress after the Vietnam War, so I looked into the early reports on PTSD to see how far the science has come since then.
  • The article extensively referenced Hurricane Ike which I was unfamiliar with, researching the storm gave me better idea of the type of trauma that many of the survivors experienced due to the massive amount of damage that occurred.
  • The article suggested that properly stoked and manned shelters for evacuated residents would be very important in preventing trauma, so I looked into the existing infrastructure in high risk locations. The government maintains stockpiles of supplies around the country and most communities have designated shelters, however there is not a single existing plan for how a community could safely evacuate the entire population.

pece_annotation_1476641889

erin_tuttle
Annotation of
In response to

The main argument is supported through several methods, first the use of demographic statistics on the patients suffering from mental illness after several significant disasters. The experiences of patients with severe mental illness are also presented as supporting evidence of the complicated causes of disaster related mental illness. Finally the article includes data and theories presented in several other papers to provide a basis for the claims of the authors regarding the future studies of mental illness and the support systems that would be ideal in minimizing the trauma of a disaster.