I come to UC-Denver
SPA with an extensive background in emergency medical services, healthcare, and
public health, specifically, in response and preparedness planning and
policies. The work background, combined with the method and approaches to
solving issues through undergraduate studies in biochemistry, have led me to my
research interest. My research interest lies in the validation of health
metrics in the context of disaster relief. In my own experiences, I’ve
noticed that we (public health and healthcare) often respond to an incident by
what we know how to do and not necessarily what the needs of the affected
population are. This has led me to question whether or not policies which
drive approaches and practices in these areas are written based on expertise in
specific processes or a true assessment of the needs. Specifically, I am
interested in the standards set by Chapter 5 of the SPHERE Project developed by
the International Red Cross with respect to disaster health. I’ve pulled
together several articles questioning the various aspects of the SPHERE
standards as far as practicality and usefulness as background reading and feel
that further investigation into the health standards would lead to useful
information and perhaps, a positive impact in some ways. I believe I will
be able to, with guidance and further studies, to cross between policies,
healthcare practices (in disaster relief / response), and public health to
produce a sound product.