Community Shelters Research Articles

How the Leopard Got His Claws (review)

Reviewed by: How the Leopard Got His Claws Hope Morrison Achebe, Chinua . How the Leopard Got His Claws; by Chinua Achebe and John Iroaganachi; illus. by Mary GrandPré. Candlewick, 2011. 42p. ISBN 978-0-7636-4805-3 $16.99 Ad 7-10 yrs. Noted Nigerian writer/scholar Achebe here offers a pourquoi tale for young audiences. In this peaceful jungle setting, the leopard is king, and no animals save the dog have sharp teeth or claws. After being excluded from the community shelter for non-contribution, the dog stages a coup, and the animals name him king in place of the leopard. The leopard then adopts teeth and claws himself (fashioned from metal by a blacksmith) and returns to the village with a vengeance ("You shameless cowards. I was a kind and gentle king, but you turned against me. From today I shall rule the forest with terror"), and from that day forward the animals live as enemies. This original tale touches upon themes of liberation and justice, from the populace's willingness to transfer allegiances to the dog's violent usurpation of the kingship to the leopard's brutal return to power. Unfortunately, the audience is likely to miss many of the post-colonial implications, and the text-heavy narrative will be daunting to younger listeners who might be content with the folkloric level of the tale. Grandpré's dense acrylic illustrations are striking, though; the early spreads are as joy-filled as the later ones are dark and foreboding, and the closeups of animal faces are particularly powerful. This will likely require extra time for reading aloud, both because of its length and its heady content, but listeners may enjoy this dark tale of the establishment of the current state of the animal kingdom. [End Page 190] Copyright © 2011 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Do people respond to low probability risks? Evidence from tornado risk and manufactured homes

Whether people perceive and respond to low-probability natural hazards is a research question of considerable policy relevance. We obtain evidence by considering the response of housing choice to tornado risk for manufactured homes. The vulnerability of manufactured housing, combined with its growing share of the U.S. housing market, has led to proposed mandates for community shelters in mobile home parks. Expected utility theory, however, predicts that households should account for tornado risk in their housing choice. We test for an effect of tornado risk on manufactured housing demand using cross-sectional state data, as well as counties in three tornado prone states. We find that people do respond to tornado risk; our estimates indicate that each expected annual state tornado death per million residents reduces demand for manufactured homes by about 3%. The estimated quantity effect is consistent with the market studies of the price elasticity of manufactured homes.

Biodiversity of the germs involved in the human and animal leptospirosis in stray dog of Bucharest temporally adopted by the community.

A number of 103 ownerless dogs, not vaccinated against leptospirosis, accommodated at the testing moment in a community shelter in Bucharest, are tested for leptospirosis by the ultramicroscopic agglutination seroreaction with MAR* type live antigen. The results revealed that 36,89% of these dogs represent for humans and for domestic and farm animals a potential natural reservoir of infection with microorganisms of the Lesptospira genus. The Canicola serotype was identified in 81,57% of the positive cases and the Icterohaemorrhagiae serotype in 18,43% of the positive cases.

Prevalence of feline coronavirus antibodies in cats in Bursa province, Turkey, by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay

Feline sera from Bursa province (Turkey) were assayed for coronavirus antibody using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The study was performed on 100 sera collected from cats belonging to catteries or community shelters and to households. The serum samples were initially tested with the virus neutralisation (VN) test and the results were then compared with the ELISA. The VN yielded 79 negative and 21 positive sera but the ELISA confirmed only 74 as negative. The ELISA-negative sera were also found to be free of feline coronoviruses-specific antibodies by Western blotting. Using the VN as the gold standard test, ELISA had a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 93.6%, with an overall agreement of 95%. The Kappa (κ) test indicated high association between the two tests (κ = 0.86, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.743–0.980). The positive predictive value (PPV) was 0.8, and the negative predictive value (NPV) was 0.93. The prevalence of FCoV II antibodies in the sampled population based on the gold standard was 62% (95% CI 0.44–0.77) among multi-cat environments, and 4% (95% CI 0.01–0.11) among single cat households.

APIC's role in emergency management: Proceedings of the 2008 APIC Emergency Preparedness Mini-Summit

In the past few years, the United States of America has experienced an increase in the number of disasters that have occurred and a higher morbidity, mortality, and cost associated with these events. In 2005 alone, 5 disasters (4 hurricanes and a drought in the Midwest) resulted in $105 billion in damages,1 required over 200,000 displaced individuals to be housed in community shelters,2 and caused 1451 deaths, almost 4 times the national average of deaths related to natural disasters in the United States.

Prevalence of Feline Coronavirus Antibodies in Cats in Bursa (Turkey) by An Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay

Since feline coronavirus (FCoVs) are ubiquitous pathogens, the seroprevalence was studied to monitor infection in Turkey. One hundred sera, collected from cats belonging to catteries or community shelters and to households, were tested. The VN test was performed and compared with ELISA. Each sample was heat-inactivated and serial two-fold dilutions starting from 1/2 were mixed with 100TCID50/50μl of FCoV type II strain 25/92. Subsequently, freshly trypsinized CRFK cells were added and the plates were incubated at 37°C for 96h.

Comparison of Serologic Techniques for the Detection of Antibodies against Feline Coronaviruses

The seroprevalence of feline coronavirus (FCoV) antibodies was studied in cats in southern Italy. One hundred twenty sera collected from cats belonging to catteries or community shelters and to households were tested for FCoV type I and II antibodies. The virus neutralization (VN) was performed and compared with indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Ninety-six sera tested positive for FCoV antibodies by VN and ELISA. Interestingly, ELISA revealed 2 more positive sera than did the VN test and 3 more positive sera than did the IFAT. All results were confirmed by Western blotting. ELISA proved to be more sensitive and detected a seroprevalence of about 82%. Considering the cross-reactivity of FCoV type I and type II, ELISA was able to detect antibodies against both serotypes, allowing the use of the assay as a reference test for sera screening. The high prevalence of antibodies observed indicates that FCoVs are common in southern Italian cat populations.

Calming the Storm: Preparing for Infectious Outbreaks Related to an Influx of Hurricane Katrina Evacuees

ISSUE: Preparing for an influx of infectious patients has been a priority for Infection Control (IC) Professionals in recent years. After the devastating impact of storms and flooding following Hurricane Katrina, the Dallas area was faced with the arrival of thousands of displaced residents from hospitals, shelters, and the streets of New Orleans. PROJECT: On Aug 31, 2005, Dallas County hospitals were alerted to anticipate patient transfers from evacuating healthcare facilities (HCFs) in Louisiana. In the days that followed, the Dallas area received ∼13,000 evacuees displaced by flood waters. Methodist Health System's two-hospitals serving the Dallas County braced for arrival of patients with a potential for a variety of infections associated with exposure to contaminated floodwaters and close living quarters. IC initiated logs of hurricane evacuees in ED with daily notification to IC, cohorting of patients on a nursing unit, and empiric implementation of transmission-based precautions (droplet precautions for URI and contact precautions for diarrheal illness and those from other HCFs). Educational fact sheets outlining isolation protocols were distributed to nursing staff and compliance was monitored on daily rounds. RESULTS: Astute IC planning led to proper initiation of empiric transmission-based precautions and likely averted any nosocomial outbreak (despite confirmed Norovirus outbreak in the community shelter). However, staffing issues over the Labor Day weekend posed logistic challenges, with one facility unable to cohort evacuees on one unit, causing difficulty with daily surveillance rounds and maintenance of ongoing logs. While one hospital maintained electronic logs, the other facility had multiple paper logs, which made it challenging to comply with the ever-changing notification requests of the public health officials. Patient follow-up proved challenging as patients had registered using their home addresses, and discharge dispositions were frequently listed as shelter, church or hotel. LESSONS LEARNED: Plans must allow for unexpected situations and HCFs must be able to react and anticipate changes. Constant monitors must be put in place so that when the unexpected crisis happens, system would be less likely to crumble. Planning needs to include capabilities to collect current demographic data in the event that follow up for prophylaxis or treatment is needed. Consistency with data collection and surveillance tools is necessary. ISSUE: Preparing for an influx of infectious patients has been a priority for Infection Control (IC) Professionals in recent years. After the devastating impact of storms and flooding following Hurricane Katrina, the Dallas area was faced with the arrival of thousands of displaced residents from hospitals, shelters, and the streets of New Orleans. PROJECT: On Aug 31, 2005, Dallas County hospitals were alerted to anticipate patient transfers from evacuating healthcare facilities (HCFs) in Louisiana. In the days that followed, the Dallas area received ∼13,000 evacuees displaced by flood waters. Methodist Health System's two-hospitals serving the Dallas County braced for arrival of patients with a potential for a variety of infections associated with exposure to contaminated floodwaters and close living quarters. IC initiated logs of hurricane evacuees in ED with daily notification to IC, cohorting of patients on a nursing unit, and empiric implementation of transmission-based precautions (droplet precautions for URI and contact precautions for diarrheal illness and those from other HCFs). Educational fact sheets outlining isolation protocols were distributed to nursing staff and compliance was monitored on daily rounds. RESULTS: Astute IC planning led to proper initiation of empiric transmission-based precautions and likely averted any nosocomial outbreak (despite confirmed Norovirus outbreak in the community shelter). However, staffing issues over the Labor Day weekend posed logistic challenges, with one facility unable to cohort evacuees on one unit, causing difficulty with daily surveillance rounds and maintenance of ongoing logs. While one hospital maintained electronic logs, the other facility had multiple paper logs, which made it challenging to comply with the ever-changing notification requests of the public health officials. Patient follow-up proved challenging as patients had registered using their home addresses, and discharge dispositions were frequently listed as shelter, church or hotel. LESSONS LEARNED: Plans must allow for unexpected situations and HCFs must be able to react and anticipate changes. Constant monitors must be put in place so that when the unexpected crisis happens, system would be less likely to crumble. Planning needs to include capabilities to collect current demographic data in the event that follow up for prophylaxis or treatment is needed. Consistency with data collection and surveillance tools is necessary.

Using International Practice Techniques in Texas: Hurricane Katrina Experiences: Receiving Patients in Longview, Texas, 350 Miles From Ground Zero

Longview, Texas, is located off Interstate 20, more than 350 miles from New Orleans, Louisiana, and 120 miles east of Dallas, Texas. It has been a wonderful place to practice pediatrics for the past 27 years. The onslaught of Hurricane Katrina would produce opportunities for many of us to volunteer our medical expertise to evacuees on a scale never before anticipated. Some providers with experience in developing nations would find, in the following days, many similarities to the styles of medical practice seen there. This observation was made independently by more than 1 practitioner. Our community was called on to provide medical services, social services, food, shelter, transportation, and clothing to as many as 500 evacuees (people who had left their homes in advance of the storm) in our community shelter. In addition, we provided the same services for an estimated 4000 to 6000 additional evacuees who were in the area and living with family or in campgrounds, motels, and churches. Our medical community participates in disaster drills at our 2 local hospitals at least annually. The scenario usually entails a disaster at a large petrochemical plant or a massive accident on an interstate highway. The drill, which is very well scripted, is rather poorly attended. Katrina's evacuees had very different need sets in almost all situations when compared with the needs of victims of a petrochemical plant explosion in both intensity and, especially, duration of support needs. The city and the Red Cross opened the convention center as an evacuation shelter just 2 days before Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. As the storm grew in intensity, it became obvious that a much larger number of people were seeking shelter here and in the surrounding area than was ever planned for, and more were coming. Relief workers delivered the first … Address correspondence to O.W. “Skip” Brown, MD, FAAP, Diagnostic Clinic of Longview, Department of Pediatrics, 707 Hollybrook, Longview, TX 75605. E-mail: sbrown778@hotmail.com

Beyond the Bench: COEPs Contribute to Hurricane Relief

The conditions in Louisiana and Mississippi following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita reminded us all of our commonality in the human experience and moved many to help. Among those moved to help were the staff at the Community Outreach and Education Programs (COEPs) of NIEHS Centers across the country. Responding to communities in need is one of the primary functions of the COEPs, so providing outreach to those areas on the Gulf Coast impacted by the hurricanes seemed a natural step to take. “When our director volunteered our COEP [to lead efforts], we remarked that if COEPs had never existed, they would have had to be invented on August 28,” says Pamela Diamond, director of the NIEHS Center COEP at University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston. Adds Robin Fuchs-Young, director of the COEP of the Center for Research on Environmental Disease at the University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (UTMDACC), “All of us saw what was happening on television and felt compelled on a human level to help in whatever way we could.”

A Modified Therapeutic Community for Homeless Persons with Co-Occurring Disorders of Substance Abuse and Mental Illness in a Shelter: An Outcome Study

This article reports on a study conducted to determine the effectiveness of a modified therapeutic community (MTC) shelter on client outcomes. The seven-study hypotheses focused on whether greater effectiveness in the MTC would be demonstrated in longer periods of sobriety, fewer days of psychiatric hospitalization, shorter lengths of stay in a shelter, positive discharge from the shelter, medication compliance, housing placement within the first year, and appropriate housing placement according to level of functioning.The study utilized a quasi-experimental design with two groups: 1) an experimental group (E) homeless persons with co-occurring disorders (COD) of substance abuse/dependence and mental illness who reside in a modified therapeutic community(N = 70); and 2) a comparison group (C) of veterans with CODs living in a general shelter(N = 70). The data collection procedures involved a retrospective review of closed case records for subjects in the facilities from September 1, 1998–June 1, 2000 for the MTC shelter, and from June 1, 1999–June 1, 2000 for the general shelter.Baseline differences between the E and C groups were found in age, length of homelessness, years of education, years of work experience, veteran status, marital status, and psychiatric diagnosis; all except for veteran status were unrelated to outcomes and were controlled in subsequent analyses. Significant difference was found on medication compliance when controlled for both groups. Overall, this study showed some promise for the MTC approach. The study also raised a question as to the contribution of veteran status to the differences between groups and to treatment of CODs.

Design Guidelines for Community Shelters for Extreme Wind Events

The design of shelter structures has received little attention from the engineering community since the days of nuclear fallout shelters, until the development of guidance for community shelters for cases of extreme wind events was released by FEMA in July 2000 (FEMA 361). To respond to the recent demand for community shelters, many states are designating existing schools or other public buildings, such as community centers or multipurpose buildings, as public shelter areas. In most cases these buildings, or portions of these buildings, were never designed for use as shelters. Most of the designated shelters were designed and constructed according to older local building codes that do not include requirements for extreme wind pressures and uplift. Even recently designed structures have been found to have inadequate features for a high-wind shelter, particularly with respect to cladding and architectural features that are vulnerable to damage from high winds and windborne debris. Damage to the cladding is often the beginning of building failure and occupant injury during an extreme wind event. This paper identifies critical issues and gaps in presently available technology for evaluating proposed shelters and providing retrofit guidance to building owners. The writers’ experience with inspections of designated shelters, proposed retrofit recommendations, and damage investigations of buildings affected by hurricanes or tornadoes is summarized. Recommendations for design considerations that include the current standards of practice as outlined in FEMA 361, ASCE 7-98, and the Florida Shelter Evaluation Guidelines are given.

Confronting barriers to universal screening for domestic violence.

Nationally, domestic violence has reached epidemic proportions. Universal screening is a vital means to identify those women who suffer in abusive relationships with intimate partners. Collaborative efforts between a community shelter for abused women and a local medical center's emergency department resulted in the development and implementation of a universal screening process. Barriers encountered by the emergency department nursing staff during the initial phase of screening included lack of information about domestic violence issues as well as about the tool, personal perceptions and feelings about domestic violence, and institutional barriers such as lack of time, space, and privacy in the emergency department. Of these, informational and affective barriers of nursing staff are viewed as the most significant. Discussion includes a call for emphasis on domestic violence in the curricula of nursing programs and those of other health care providers and use of universal screening to identify and assist abused women. Interdisciplinary methods of formal education, in-service training, and continuing education are encouraged to augment existing universal screening, as well as to assist those who have yet to implement such a process.

An Analysis of Nurses' Communications in a Shelter Setting

The purpose of this study was to analyze written communications among nurses providing care to battered women and their children in a community shelter setting over a 1 -year period of time. Interviews were conducted with the nurses to study the perceived effectiveness of the manual used to update daily shelter health operations, clients of concern, follow-up recommendations, or other ongoing issues. The unit of analysis was each entry recorded in the manual. The Communications Process Model guided the study (Budd, Thorp, & Donohew, 1967). Communications were transcribed and analyzed for categories of meaning from the data utilizing the Ethnograph software (Seidel & Clark, 1983). When content analysis was applied, 10 distinct categories emerged: (a) injury assessment, (b) acute condition assessment, (c) chronic condition assessment, (d) pregnancy assessment, (e) emergency assessment, (0 nursing care and procedures, (g) teaching and counseling, (h) community referrals and resources, (i) housekeeping, and Cj) health program issues. From the categories, 3 primary themes were identified: nursing assessments, nursing interventions, and health program operations. The nurses were positive about using the manual for various communications. Nurses who consider working in shelter settings may find descriptions of the realities of practice and application of a working tool for communications useful. Shelter administrators and board members need to recognize the importance of having nurses on staff to address inevitable injuries and health concerns of battered women and their children. Researchers are encouraged to develop models that relate to care of clients and caregivers in this challenging practice setting.

Homeless in America

Recorded in Ithaca, NY by Cornell University., Sponsored by: Hotel Administration, School of,Southside Community Shelter,Red Cross Emergency Shelter,Center for Religion, Ethics and Social Policy (CRESP)., Speaker(s): Community for Creative Non-Violence., Lecture, November 30, 1988.

Flood problems in Bangladesh: Is there an indigenous solution?

Bangladesh, situated on the delta of the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, and the Meghna rivers, experiences two distinct types of inundations: (a) river floods resulting from excessive runoff contributed by monsoon precipitation and (b) coastal floods induced by storm surges of tropical cyclones. The river floods are normal annual events and human settlements and agricultural practices have adapted admirably well to their regimes. Abnormal floods that occur once in every few years cause serious damage to crops and properties. To minimize flood losses, a number of modern engineering projects have been constructed within Bangladesh. However, the successful solution of the problem would probably require some international collaboration for basinwide unified systems planning, since large parts of the drainage basins of Bangladesh lie beyond its borders. In the absence of such collaboration, internal resources should be utilized for the construction of smaller public projects, such aspolders, and for encouraging and reinforcing various types of indigenous adjustments to floods. There are very few successful indigenous adjustments to coastal floods. Most of the structural solutions, such as community shelters and higher embankments, are expensive public projects that are probably beyond the means of the internal resources of the country.

Predicting disposition following brief residence at a shelter for battered women

Despite the recent proliferation of community shelters designed specifically to serve battered women, remarkably few evaluation studies have been conducted to determine the subsequent disposition of women following brief residence at these agencies. In particular, whether or not a woman returns to live with her assailant has far-reaching implications for the type of counseling services she requires as a shelter resident. From data available at admission, the current study employs discriminant function analysis for maximizing prediction of a battered woman's living arrangements 6 weeks following discharge. Results of the analysis improve the prediction of living arrangements from a 52°7o rate of accuracy using base rates alone to an 80% rate of accuracy using discriminant function coefficients. Implications for the development of more effective service delivery and for future research are discussed. It has been only recently that domestic violence and wife-abuse in particular have been recognized as a social problem of epidemic proportions. In the United States in any one year, approximately 1.8 million wives are beaten by their husbands. Nearly 30°70 of all couples report experiencing a violent incident at least once in the course of their marriage; estimates of actual incidence of physical abuse in marriages run closer to 50 to 60°70 (Straus, 1977-78). By 1978, some 100 shelters had been established as a refuge for battered women, and their number has grown steadily since (McShane, 1979).

A new approach to disaster communication and control systems

A one-way communication and centralized control system has been designed to meet preattack warning requirements by automatically turning on speakers in schools, factories, hospitals, public buildings, and community shelters. The postattack requirements of jam-free communications that cannot be intercepted by the enemy — radiation sensing, damage assessment, and determining areas of survivors — can easily be met by one man reading a tape in a civil defense control center