PREHOSPITAL EMERGENCY CARE 2000 4:222-226īackground. Knowledge of such high-risk groups that remain in the vicinity is crucial to planning a response plan. More than 300 nursing home patients were housed at the nearby jail shelter. Complicating factors included environmental conditions, limited laboratory and radiologic studies, limited medication stocks, and closure of local pharmacies before and after the hurricane. Four deaths occurred during the 24-hour period. Six patients required hospitalization at Lower Florida Keys Hospital during the period that evacuations were unavailable. Initially, patients requiring hospitalization were evacuated, but as the storm neared, this was stopped. Medical problems accounted for the majority of visits (52.3%), with minor trauma next (41.9%). Eighty-six patients presented to the ED during the 72-hour period. An emergency response team composed of three emergency medicine (EM) physicians and four EM nurses was sent at the request of the state to maintain emergency department (ED) operations at the hospital. Lower Florida Keys Hospital, which serves Key West and the Lower Keys, had previously been evacuated of inpatients and staff. Hurricane Georges (category 2) struck Key West, Florida, on September 25, 1998. Health care authorities should collect information to build local models to optimize their resources allocation in preparation. Our model also indicated that the three most important variables to predict a change in the pattern of daily ED visits were intensity of typhoon, simultaneous heavy rain, and direct landfall.ĭuring tropical cyclones, emergency services were under increased demand in selected time periods and areas. The final multiple linear regression time-series model showed that the number of daily ED visits increased in areas where a strong typhoon had landed directly, with the increase being evident during the first 2 days since landfall. Multiple linear regression time-series models were employed to estimate the effects of “days since typhoon landfall” and various characteristics of the typhoons on the end point of daily ED visits to each hospital. A total of 22 tropical cyclones (typhoons) that had passed over eastern Taiwan and covered the area under study were included. Our study examined the period from 2000 to 2008. The number of daily ED visits in each hospital was our primary end point, and data were retrieved from the database provided by the National Health Insurance Research Database. This was an observational non-concurrent prospective study performed in Taiwan. To examine emergency health care demands across a series of tropical cyclones, and to build a predictive model to analyze a cyclone's potential effect. Nevertheless, more research is needed to identify more specific patterns of health impacts and how these could be reduced in the future.Ĭase reports have indicated that a tropical cyclone may increase Emergency Department (ED) visits significantly. Findings from this review will provide material for increased awareness and education amongst the public and healthcare professionals to prevent and prepare for these health impacts. Public health advice can reduce morbidity and mortality from windstorms. Other health impacts include infections and insect bites. Additionally, worsening of chronic illnesses due to lack of access to medical care or medication can occur. Power outages are a key issue and can lead to electrocution, fires and burns and carbon monoxide poisoning from gasoline powered electrical generators. Indirect effects, occurring during the pre- and post-impact phases of the storm, include falls, lacerations and puncture wounds, and occur when preparing for, or cleaning up after a storm. Becoming airborne, being struck by flying debris or falling trees and road traffic accidents are the main dangers. Direct effects occur during the impact phase of a storm, causing death and injury due to the force of the wind. This review of published evidence demonstrates that human health can be severely affected by windstorms. Windstorms occur frequently and some researchers have predicted an increase in severe gales in the future, resulting in an urgent need to understand the related patterns of morbidity and mortality.Ī systematic literature review of international evidence on the impacts of windstorms on human health was conducted in May 2012. This systematic literature review aims to identify documented impacts that windstorms have on human health.
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