The Case for an Australian Disaster Reserve Force

[...]there have been calls for changes to Australia's disaster management system and specifically for greater involvement of the Australian Defense Force (ADF) to combat this existential national security threat [1]. The Australian bushfires as well as the COVID-19 pandemic have exposed a numbe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American journal of emergency medicine 2021-08, Vol.46, p.698-699
Main Authors: Tin, Derrick, Hart, Alexander, Ciottone, Gregory R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Australia
Civil Defense - instrumentation
Civil Defense - methods
Civil Defense - trends
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Disaster Planning - methods
Disaster Planning - trends
Disasters
Emergency medical care
Emergency preparedness
Humans
Medical personnel
Pandemics
Patient Care Team - trends
Workforce
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Summary:[...]there have been calls for changes to Australia's disaster management system and specifically for greater involvement of the Australian Defense Force (ADF) to combat this existential national security threat [1]. The Australian bushfires as well as the COVID-19 pandemic have exposed a number of issues: the lack of involvement of primary healthcare workers in all phases of the disaster cycle, limited access to disaster zones, fragmented coordination and redistribution of the healthcare workforce, as well as a lack of surge coordination, especially within the private sector, which houses 35% of Australia's intensive care beds. A surge-capable, on demand healthcare workforce that is trained in disaster response could also serve as local community leaders in disaster preparedness during normal operational periods, and fill an education gap in their local communities.
ISSN:0735-6757
1532-8171
DOI:10.1016/j.ajem.2020.10.041