Thorpe: Welcome to Beyond the Data, I'm Dr. Phoebe Thorpe
and this is a follow-on session
for our Public Health Grand Rounds on Pediatric Preparedness
in Public Health Emergencies.
Here with me today is Dr. Georgina Peacock.
Thank you for joining us.
Dr. Georgina Peacock: Thanks for having me.
Thorpe: Georgina, like most of public health,
preparing for disasters is about what doesn't happen.
In preparing for the session today we heard about an example
of a near miss for the children in New York City.
Can you tell us about that?
Peacock: Sure.
A few years ago there was a bomb threat in Times Square
and the thought by the people who had placed
that bomb threat was that,
the bomb would go off during a busy time
when there was a Lion King performance happening
on Broadway.
And we can think about that and think about the number
of children who would've been affected
if that bomb had gone off.
And the number of hospitals that would've been used,
and clearly that would have stretched past the capacity
within the pediatric hospitals in the area and would've needed
to rely on other hospitals helping out
and other emergency medical systems and things like that.
And so that gives us an example
about when there is a big disaster
that we reach a capacity where we need
to extend past the typical areas where the typical people
who would be involved in caring for children and ask others
to also care for children.
And so preparing for that is important
so that children are served during a disaster.
Thorpe: That's necessary because children have special needs
and children with special health care needs have needs too.
How are they different the care that's provided for adults?
Peacock: Absolutely, so children have different equipment needs,
for example, they may need different masks
to help them breathe that would be a different size
than an adult.
They may need different medications or medications
in different formulations.
And they need other equipment to transport them,
maybe from a community place to a hospital.
Thorpe: And one of the things that we talked
about is being prepared, like the public health system
and pediatricians being prepared,
but I think it would be important for families
to prepare, not only if they have children,
but if they have children with special health care needs.
Are there places that parents can go either just
for regular preparedness, but also for parents with children
who have special health care needs?
Peacock: Certainly, so the families need to be
that first line of defense for that.
So the individuals prepare then that's a really important part
of preparedness.
If you have a child with a special need, as we talked
about in the session today, you may need different medications,
or you may need things like that.
For example, a child with spina bifida,
who is evacuated may need extra supplies when they evacuate
because they may not be in their home and may not be able
to access the usual resources that they have,
the usual pharmacies and medical providers.
A child with autism, for example,
may have a communication device and they may need
that communication device in order
to tell people what they need.
If they are evacuated, they need that communication device
to be working so that they can communicate with others.
That might mean that they need a battery pack, that might mean
that they need a different way to power that device,
and so certainly children
with special health care needs have an even greater need
in disasters and preparing for that is going
to really help families and children be cared for
and do well in be resilient during a disaster situation.
Thorpe: One of the things that comes to mind too,
is that pediatricians might be interested
in knowing how they can help families prepare.
Are there other places that pediatricians can go and to find
out more about what they can do to think
through these different scenarios
and help the families prepare?
Peacock: Absolutely,
so the children's preparedness team here
at the CDC has been working
with the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The American Academy of Pediatrics is a great resource
for pediatric providers to help prepare their patients
for things that may happen in an emergency or disaster.
You can find CDC's resources
at emergency.CDC.gov slash children,
and that provides information for providers, for families,
for educators, on being better prepared
for public health emergencies.
Thorpe: Oh, fabulous, fabulous.
Another thing that's mentioned is
that there's a national effort, the National Advisory Committee
on Children in Disasters.
Can you tell me a little bit
about what they're doing to prepare us?
Peacock: Well we heard today from Dr. Mike Anderson,
who is the chair of the National Advisory Committee on Children
in Disasters, who has been tasked with different efforts
to provide recommendations for a bettering preparedness
for children and families in disasters.
This advisory committee is tasked
by the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response,
Dr. Nikki Lurie, who we also heard from today.
And the work of the advisory committee is really to help us
in the federal government understand the needs out there
for preparedness for children and make recommendations
to help ensure that children are cared
for appropriately in disasters.
Thorpe: The other thing that seems to come to mind
for me is it seems like each disaster teaches us a little
bit, but there's always a little bit that goes not quite right.
Do you think we'll ever be there?
That we get everything?
Peacock: You know, I think we have made great strides.
I think that a number of years ago children were very neglected
when it came to preparedness and more and more
within the federal system, and then also in the national
and state system, children's needs are being addressed
in planning and response, and each time, as you said,
we get better and better.
I think there's always more work to do, but we certainly are
in a better place now than we were a few years ago,
and I think in a couple more years we'll be even
in a better place to make sure
that children's needs are really addressed appropriately
in disasters.
Thorpe: I'm looking forward to that.
That'll be lovely when we get it right.
Peacock: Absolutely...
Thorpe: Thank you Georgina for joining us...
Peacock: Thanks for having me.
Thorpe: And thank you for joining us for Beyond the Data!