The Utility of Community Health Workers in Disaster Preparedness, Recovery, and Resiliency

Lay Health Workers can play a pivotal role in improving disaster response and recovery because of their potential effectiveness in enhancing the overall health of their communities, increasing disaster preparedness, supplementing the efforts of disaster responders, and building relationships of trust among all interested parties. Such activities build social capital and significantly enhance community resiliency in anticipation of future disasters. Although there are a number of different types of lay health workers, the version with the greatest potential in this area is the Community Health Worker (CHW). Recent research findings confirm that CHWs serving in the communities where they live have been beneficial in emergency management planning and disaster recovery, following both natural and technological disasters. When properly trained, they constitute a proven strategy for timely interventions aimed at reducing long-term collective trauma and building social capital. In this paper, we elaborate the characteristics and roles of CHWs as a specific type of lay health worker; review research on the utility of CHWs in health care generally, as well as in the area of emergency management; describe their potential for building social capital and enhancing community resilience; and provide an overview of essential training needed to prepare them to participate in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery efforts. We conclude with some suggestions for future research.

非专业卫生工作者在改善灾害应对和恢复方面可发挥关键作用，因为他们在增强社区整体健康、提高灾害防备能力、辅助灾害救援人员的工作以及在所有相关方之间建立信任关系方面具有潜在效力。此类活动可积累社会资本，并在预期未来灾害时显著增强社区的恢复力。尽管非专业卫生工作者有多种不同类型，但在这一领域潜力最大的是社区卫生工作者（CHW）。近期研究结果证实，在其居住的社区服务的社区卫生工作者在自然和技术灾害后的应急管理规划和灾害恢复方面都有益处。经过适当培训，他们是一种行之有效的策略，可及时进行干预，旨在减少长期的集体创伤并积累社会资本。在本文中，我们阐述了社区卫生工作者作为一种特定类型的非专业卫生工作者的特征和作用；综述了关于社区卫生工作者在一般医疗保健以及应急管理领域的效用的研究；描述了他们在积累社会资本和增强社区恢复力方面的潜力；并概述了使他们为参与灾害防备、应对和恢复工作所需的基本培训。最后我们对未来研究提出了一些建议。