Search

"The crumbling infrastructure at Rikers leads to more than flooding. The majority of weapons found on the island (about 79 percent in 2014) are fashioned out of building materials at hand, and not smuggled in."

"In my cell, it feels like it’s 104 degrees in my cell when it’s 94 degrees outside. I feel like I’m dying in the cell. I have a heart murmur and my heart will start pumping hard. I get dizzy and get migraine headaches from the heat.”

"The landfill underneath burps methane, a noxious gas, as the garbage decomposes naturally. Less than a mile away in Queens sit five power plants that spew volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxide, a pollutant. The Poletti power plant, infamous for being the biggest polluter in New York, sat within a mile of Rikers and operated until 2010"

The arguments were supported through providing data and statistics on the amount of those suffering still and providing background and input from numerous government agencies on the topic. Interviews with survivors were also used to support the argument and provide first person experience about the conditions in which they live and hardships they face.The interviews recount what occurred and was experienced during the disaster, as well. Ben, a 42 year old carpenter, Muriel and many others are quoted and provide testimony to the adversities they faced- physiologically, psychologically and emotionally during and post Katrina. The  article then discusses the roles government agencies have in recovery after the disaster.

This paper analyzes the effect that disaster has on the mental health of those afflicted by the disaster. The type of disaster and its effect on certain mental health afflictions is discussed. The field of disaster and this correlation with mental heath has long been in existence and under study. This paper discusses the current state of the field of disaster and mental health research. An overall summary of previous findings is discussed as well as the treatment of mental health disorders after disasters and any challenges to studying disaster related psychopathology. Limitations in current methodologies are also discussed as well as future areas of research are also discussed.

I further researched health care and illness rates in the area surrounding Chernobyl before the incident, to see if there were any very obvious differences in terms of how health care was handled. I also expanded on what was presented in the article and researched some of the major issues faced by those exposed. In addition, I researched more on the governmental influence and actions taken post Chernobyl in terms of testing of citizens as well as leaderhsip efforts. 

This article is discussed and referenced in STS based courses and emergency response seminars and planning committees. The paper is also cited in a book Edited by Richard Hindmarsh and Rebecca Priestley entitles "The Fukushima Effect."

Those that complete the course requirements and achieve all their points will graduate with an MS in Narrative Medicine. 

Paul Farmer cites this paper in some of his other studies and articles written after this. The article has also been cited in a book entitled "Social Medicine in the 21st Century" by Samuel Barrack. This article has also been cited in: 

https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/10612556/3585352.pdf;sequen…

http://opensample.info/blindness-survey-methods-response-from-sudan-stu…;

Humanitarian aid is not directly a form of emergency response in a sense of EMS, but it does give help and attention to those in areas of need, and often times, forms of aid are medically related. Though emergency response isn't directly addressed in this paper, humanitarian aid is a form of a response to an emergency situation. This paper focuses more on the analysis of humanitarian efforts to those that at one time may have needed emergency response in the moment due to violent act. Yet the paper focuses on the social aspects of humanitarianism and its tie to gender based violence, not EMS or emergency response.