Search

I teach anthropology and environmental studies at Haveford College, just outside of Philly. Currently, I'm holed up in a cabin in the Adirondacks in upstate New York with several family members, including my spouse and 4 year old daughter and 3 dogs. I started working on disasters by accident, when one day in 2001 I was walking to class at NYU and saw the World Trade Center buildings on flames. I have known Kim for a few year and I contacted her to connect with folks around Covid-19 and its imacts.

I'm particularly intersted in issues of communal grief, mourning, and bereavement. Also, I'm interested in the religious response to Covid-19.

The article’s bibliography is quite long and includes a variety of sources, this suggests the author researched this topic in detail and thoroughly. 

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act ensures public access to emergency medical treatment regardless of the patient's ability or inability to pay for the services. This policy aims to provide immediate medical assisstance to those in need.  

The authors used the healthcare developments of Boston, Haiti, and Rwanda where they have worked to provide access to healthcare. In Rwanda they provided easier access to HIV medications and trained neighbors or relatives of the patient on how to administer the treatments so they would not have to go to a clinic. They discussed a similar program that occurred in Haiti but for tuberculosis. In providing these treatments to people who previously could not afford them, they increased their life expectancies. In Rwanda they showed that in providing formula to mother with HIV or AIDs they were no longer transmitting the disease to their children. Previously the mothers could not purchase formula and the only way they could feed their babies was breast feeding. 

The arguement is supported through research findings, current facts, and interviews with those in the field. 

The main argument of this article is that “biosecurity” is not just a national security issue but a worldwide issue.  Biosecurity is effected by many things including emerging diseases, bioterrorism, food safety, and the “cutting edge of life sciences.” 

Doctors without Borders has set up their own facilities and supports their own facilities so they do not have to rely on the infrastructure of the country they are in. However, they do heavily rely on private donations so they continue to operate. 

This article address emergency response and public health in that providers are there to help patients and releive suffering and in doing that, specifically in times of crisis protocols are broken and morals come into play a little more. In this article a doctor euthanized suffering patients who may or may not have been rescued from the hospital during hurricane Katrina. 

The Red Cross targets people to help who are suffering from a disaster.