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At my practicum location, the role of a public health nurse during emergency preparedness or disaster planning is best directed at what public health nurses know best: approaches aimed at a population or community (Association of Public Health Nurses, 2014). According to this organization, responsibilities during planning and preparation include ongoing community assessments and determining who the community consists of and what are potential disasters. The public health nurse continues community assessments as an approach to disaster planning both to improve quality of life and address potential concerns that could create a disaster or could slow down the response in an actual disaster. Hazards identified by the public health nurse include environmental disasters, emergence or re-emergence of communicable diseases, and public health epidemics that pertain to the populations being examined (Association of Public Health Nurses, 20214). Delta county historically experiences some of the highest incidences of west Nile virus in Colorado, and the surveillance of patients interacting with the organization that test positive for West Nile Virus is one responsibility of the public health nurse; this information is used to educate the providers on the presentation of West Nile virus and when testing for the virus is indicated. The number of positive cases is also shared with the local public health department for tracking, mitigation, and widespread community education.

It is essential that the public health nurse identifies resources within the community, provide broad education to both the community and organization on emergency preparedness, and assists with the development of organization wide policies and procedures that provide a framework for a disaster response. Identifying resources available to the community helps the community, families, and individuals withstand, recover, and respond to the disaster and identifying these prior to the disaster streamlines the process. Part of the responsibility of creating policies and procedures includes supervising response drills and trainings so when an emergency arrives the organization is educated and prepared to respond (Association of Public Health Nurses, 2014).