To explore how evacuees obtained health care information at their evacuation destinations after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

We conducted semi-structured interviews of 11 evacuees who moved to City A in Kyoto Prefecture following the Great East Japan Earthquake. The interviews explored how the evacuees obtained health care information, including the main factors of influence. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed to identify trends by using the constant comparative method.

Four categories emerged from 6 concepts. Mother-children evacuees and family evacuees tended to obtain health care information in different ways. Family evacuees had moved as a family unit and had obtained their health care information from local neighbors. Mother-children evacuees were mothers who had moved with their children, leaving behind other family members. These evacuees tended to obtain information from other mother-children evacuees. At the time of evacuation, we found 2 factors, emotions and systems, influencing how mother-children evacuees obtained health care information.

We found 2 different ways of obtaining health care information among mother-children evacuees and other evacuees. At the time of evacuation, 2 factors, emotions and systems, influenced how mother-children evacuees obtained health care information. Community-building support should be a priority from an early stage after a disaster for health care management. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:729–734)

Loss of patient information can hinder medical care for evacuees and the reconstruction of medical facilities damaged by major incidents. In Japan, health insurance coverage is universal, and information about diagnoses and health care services provided is shared by the medical facilities, Health Insurance Claims Review and Reimbursement Services or the National Health Insurance Organization (NHIO), and the insurers. After the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, we interviewed officers in charge of NHIO in the 3 prefectures that were damaged by the earthquake and elicited how they assisted with medical care for evacuees and reconstruction of the damaged medical facilities.

Comprehensive interviews were conducted with officers in charge of the NHIO in the 3 prefectures to obtain information about the use and provision of health insurance claims data 3 to 4 months after the event. We then analyzed the official data concerning use of the information from the claims in chronological order.

The NHIO headquarters in the 3 prefectures were not physically affected by the disaster, and their information on the health insurance claims was intact. Patient information acquired before the disaster was obtained from the health insurance claims and applied to the medical care of the evacuees. The information also was used to reconstruct patient records lost in the disaster.

The information that was obtained from health insurance claims was used to improve medical care after the large-scale disaster. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2013;0:1–5)

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a significant number of faith-based organizations (FBOs) that were not a part of the formal National Response Plan (NRP) initiated and sustained sheltering operations.

The objective of this study was to examine the sheltering opera-tions of FBOs, understand the decision-making process of FBO shelters, and identify the advantages and disadvantages of FBO shelters.

Verbal interviews were conducted with FBO shelter leaders. Inclusion criteria were: (1) opening in response to the Katrina disaster; (2) oper-ating for more than three weeks; and (3) being a FBO. Enrolled shelters were examined using descriptive data methods.

The majority of shelters operating in Mississippi up to three weeks post-Katrina were FBO-managed. All of the operating FBO shelters in Mississippi that met the inclusion criteria were contacted with a response rate of 94%. Decisions were made by individuals or small groups in most shelters regarding opening, operating procedures, and closing. Most FBOs provided at least one enabling service to evacuees, and all utilized informal networks for sheltering operations. Only 25% of FBOs had disaster plans in place prior to Hurricane Katrina.

Faith-based organization shelters played a significant role in the acute phase of the Katrina disaster. Formal disaster training should be ini-tiated for these organizations. Services provided by FBOs should be standard-ized. Informal networks should be incorporated into national disaster planning.

Many emergency departments (EDs) in the United States experience daily overcrowding, and a rapid influx of evacuees fleeing a disaster area can pose a substantial burden. Some of these evacuees may require ED care. However, others lack an alternative to the ED to address non-emergent medical concerns (prescription refills or outpatient referral).

The objective of this study was to describe a successful multidisciplinary Hurricane Katrina Evacuation Center, explain the services offered, and determine the center's effects on referrals to local EDs.

Data were collected concerning the number of patients utilizing the medical evaluation center and compared to the total number of evacuees to determine the proportion that utilized medical care. The data concerning patients given prescriptions was obtained by the estimation of the two medical directors of the Center, and therefore, is inexact.

During the five weeks the center was operational, 631 of 716 evacuees (88%) requested medical evaluation, and >80% of those had prescriptions written. Only four (<1%) patients were transported to local EDs.

An evacuee evaluation center provides a convenient non-ED alternative for evacuees to address their non-emergent medical concerns and can be used to ease their transition to a new location.

On 04 September 2005, 1,589 Hurricane Katrina evacuees from the New Orleans area arrived in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma State Department of Health conducted a rapid needs assessment of the evacuees housed at a National Guard training facility to determine the medical and social needs of the population in order to allocate resources appropriately.

A standardized questionnaire that focused on individual and household evacuee characteristics was developed. Households from each shel-ter building were targeted for surveying, and a convenience sample was used.

Data were collected on 197 households and 373 persons. When com-pared with the population of Orleans Parish, Louisiana, the evacuees sampled were more likely to be male, black, and 45–64 years of age. They also were less likely to report receiving a high school education and being employed pre-hurricane. Of those households of <1 persons, 63% had at least one missing household member. Fifty-six percent of adults and 21% of children reported having at least one chronic disease. Adult women and non-black persons were more likely to report a pre-existing mental health condition. Fourteen percent of adult evacuees reported a mental illness that required medication pre-hur-ricane, and eight adults indicated that they either had been physically or sex-ually assaulted after the hurricane. Approximately half of adults reported that they had witnessed someone being severely injured or dead, and 10% of per-sons reported that someone close to them (family or friend) had died since the hurricane. Of the adults answering questions related to acute stress disor-der, 50% indicated that they suffered at least one symptom of the disorder.

The results from this needs assessment highlight that the evac-uees surveyed predominantly were black, of lower socio-economic status, and had substantial, pre-existing medical and mental health concerns. The evac-uees experienced multiple emotional traumas, including witnessing grotesque scenes and the disruption of social systems, and had pre-existing psy-chopathologies that predisposed this population to post-traumatic stress dis-order (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder).x When disaster populations are displaced, mental health and social service providers should be available immediately upon the arrival of the evacuees, and should be integrally coordinated with the relief response. Because the displaced population is at high risk for disaster-related mental health problems, it should be monitored closely for persons with PTSD. This displaced population will likely require a substantial re-establishment of financial, medical, and educational resources in new communities or upon their return to Louisiana.