Delivery of Culturally Accessible PHR for Vulnerable Populations - Meeting their public health information needs

Following the emergency preparedness disaster of Hurricane Katrina, the Department of Homeland Security has updated its National Response Plan on a regular basis. One of the challenges was to advocate resources to support the needs of vulnerable populations, such as those with physical disabilities and language restrictions. We conducted contextual analysis of the Plan to examine whether the national response plan includes the provision of public health information to address vulnerable populations' needs. The results suggest that the current year Plan includes specific strategies for both risk communication and for vulnerable populations, such as disabled persons, children and women, and person with limited English proficiency, which are major improvements based on lessons learned from Katrina and Rita of 2005. On the other hand, although the Plan attends to the needs of vulnerable populations, it lacks funding to identify and render sufficient support for those populations. In preparation for emergencies, It is crucial to define, locate, reach out, and link vulnerable populations to the resources that serve them. To provide public health information to vulnerable populations, we recommend 1) the development of a comprehensive and up-to-date list of assets, hazards, volunteer pool, and health information kits, health care providers who can provide culturally and linguistically appropriate care, and 2) risk communication channels that vulnerable community can use, and a special need registry to serve as an emergency information system. In addition, 3) maps are an important tool for disseminating information, such as community assets, health providers, community resources, evacuation plans, and as such they can be a powerful tool for risk communication for residents with limited English ability.