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Disaster Response
Human beings have faced extraordinary life threatening events for millions of years; many times witnessing their loved ones suffer sudden violent death, extreme injuries and displacement. A favored saying of disaster responders, in response to survivor’s grief, horror and fear in the face of the disaster is: “You are having a normal reaction to an abnormal event”. Although usually well intended this axiom makes absolutely no sense and can dishonor the sustained courage of survivorship. What is abnormal about sudden violent death in the human experience? It is a powerful and ubiquitous component of the human history. The Boston Childrens Foundation and its operational partners acknowledge and support the survivor reality that states: “You are having a normal reaction to an overwhelming event”. We acknowledge, honor and then attend to the overwhelming aspects of the disaster experience with multimodal sustained response capacities that ultimately protect the social capitol (children and their caregivers) in the disaster zones, ensuring a functional future for the community.
Over the last several hundred years multiple domains of investigation and disciplines have developed postvention, intervention and prevention initiatives to respond to mass casualty disasters. Very few of these initiatives have received scientific or longitudinal evaluations. Furthermore, these initiatives have seldom been well planned, coordinated or sustained; unfortunately leaving the disaster affected population poorly prepared to handle the longer term effects of a mass casualty disaster after the expert help leaves the area. Medical intervention initiatives have paved the way in terms of efficacy and coordination, primarily because medical interventions lend themselves to critical evaluations and measurement. Yet even disaster medicine initiatives many times operate outside the realms of psychosocial stabilization and reintegration.
The Boston Childrens Foundation (BCF) and its operational partners have assembled world leaders and their evidence based interventions in disaster medicine and psychosocial interventions to address the theoretical, practice and service delivery gaps delineated above.
BCF has the capability, practice base, and subject matter expertise to deliver all hazards mitigation disaster response and management services that effectively bridge significant gaps between medical and behavioral health, between security and chaotic response, between emergency managers and survivors; and ultimately between the disaster and the humanitarian recovery and reunification.