“Exploring Theories of Public and Private Sector Collaboration among Health Care Professionals,

People With Disabilities and Emergency Managers”

P. Robert DawaltThe University of Baltimore

College of Public Affairs

A Brief Biography of the AuthorP. Robert Dawalt

• I was Born and raised in East Central Indiana.• But I also spent substantial time in Ohio as a Probation

Officer and Public Defender in Canton Ohio.• Education: BA Social Studies, JD LAW, MS Criminal

Justice. In addition I have numerous FEMA courses.• I Worked in Local Government for 30 years.• I Began teaching college part time in 1978 and later

shifted to full time college instructor in 2005.• I also Work as a volunteer with local emergency

managers.

Foundations of Research

• INDICATE LEAD RESEARCH QUESTION AND/OR GUIDING RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

• how do theories of public sector collaboration, cooperation and coordination facilitate the analysis of the roles of health care and disability professionals in emergency management?

• BRIEFLY EXPLAIN WHY THESE OBJECTIVES AND/OR RESEARCH QUESTIONS WERE SELECTED

• Carefully examine theories of public sector collaboration, cooperation and coordination as they apply to emergency management.

Part II

• Secondly, As we use case study methodology, to explore the specific roles of health care professionals working with people with disabilities under these collaborative and cooperative modes.

What led me to this topic?

The Context and Background of the Study

• 1) In 2008 I assisted as a volunteer at the EMA office during a snow storm.

• 2) I learned right away that one of the biggest concerns that we had was what to do about people with disabilities who lived out in rural areas. For example we found 14 people who needed kidney dialysis during this 3 day winter storm incident.

• I began to consider this problem in larger contexts like the World trade Center on 9-11 and Hurricane Karina.

• I learned that many people with disabilities died in the WTC and over 1800 people died in New Orleans during Katrina. Most were elderly or disabled.

The Dissertation Setting

• Connection of collaborative systems and strategies for people with disabilities to public policy and administration in the research question.

• Connection of key theories and concepts to the research objectives.

Research Methodology

• Given the research objectives and question, the research methodology includes a triangulated design interrelating:

• 1) I engaged in interviews with EMA directors. I researched documents including peer reviewed journals, website and even newspaper accounts of emergency management collaboration with people with disabilities and health care professionals. I also interviewed advocates for people with disabilities and nurses, paramedics and CNA’s.

• 2) The relationship of these methodological choices to the research question. I tried to obtain the best information I could from EMA directors and test it by using other available information to verify it.

Brief Discussion of the Literature

• First I used the literature to define important terms like: “disability,” “collaboration,” “cooperation,” “emergency and management,” and several others.

• Then I worked like a funnel from broad general sources to more specific including information on prior National studies on my topic and public administration solutions to this problem.

• My Key focus of the literature search was on the examples of prior studies of disasters, then specifically the role of disability and health care in this issue. Later I added some content about mental health issues. Then I started to look for solutions to the problems.

• What I learned from the literature that guided my methods and eventual analysis included the fact that three major national studies had been done on this problem in the past, One by Fox (2006) another by Markenson (2007) and one by Vaughn (2009). All indicated a very poor level of effort by emergency administrators for the problem of planning collaboratively with people with disabilities and health care professionals.

Major Research Findings

• The Major Findings Generated by the Analysis in this study include:

• There were broad demographics of responses.• I learned about the experience of Emergency Managers

in this study.• Some mentioned a relationship with VOADS like Red

Cross.• Some many more than before, include PWD in exercises.• Many EMA directors have met with PWD. Some

frequently.• Many EMA directors have met with Health Care

Professionals.• Some EMA directors meet with PWD often in planning for

Disasters.

Demographics

Experience and Education

Experience and Training• Years of Experience as an Emergency Manager,

Other Related Experience and Training• N

• Min.

• Max.

• Mean

• SD

• Median

• Mode

Examples from Responses:• Years of experience as an emergency manager• 38• 1• 30• 9.74• 6.74• 8.50• 6• Years of other related experience• 38• 0• 32• 7.89• 9.68• 2.50• 0• Formal or informal or vocational training• 6• 0• 6• 1.37• 1.82• 1• 0• Note. SD = standard deviation, M = Mean, Min. = minimum, Max. = Maximum,

N = the number of responses.

Experience and Education

other related experienceformal or vocational training

Years of experience as an emergency manager

Mean

10

8

6

4

2

0

7.89

1.37

9.74

Mention the Red Cross

•Table 3

•Frequencies and Percentages for Mentioning Red Cross

• Response

• n

• %

•No 29

• 76.3%

•Yes 8

• 21.1%

•N/A 1

• 2.6%

•Total 38

• 100%

• 

• 

Mention the Red Cross

N/AYesNo

Cou

nt

30

20

10

01

8

29

Include PWD in exercises

•Frequencies and Percentages for Exercise with People with Disabilities

• Response

• n

• %

•No 17

• 44.7%

•Yes 21

• 55.3%

•Total 38

• 100

• 

Include PWD in Exercises

YesNo

Cou

nt

25

20

15

10

5

0

21

17

EMA has met with PWD•Frequencies and Percentages for EMA Director Met with People with Disabilities

• Response

• n

• %

•No

• 9

• 23.7

•Yes

• 1

• 2.6

•1 time

• 7

• 18.4

•often

• 21

• 55.3

•Total

• 38

• 100

• 

EMA has met with PWD

often1 timeYesNo

Cou

nt

25

20

15

10

5

0

21

7

1

9

EMA Meetings with Health Care Pros.

•Table 6

•Frequencies and Percentages for Met with Health Care Professionals

• Response

• n

• %

•No

• 5

• 13.2

•Yes

• 1

• 2.6

•1 time

• 4

• 10.5

•often

• 28

• 73.7

•Total

• 38

• 100• • 

EMA meetings with Health Care Pros.

often1 timeYesNo

Cou

nt

30

20

10

0

28

4

1

5

EMA includes PWD in planning•Table 7

•Frequencies and Percentages for Inclusion of People with Disabilities in Planning

• Response

• n

• %

•No

• 1

• 2.6

•Yes

• 37

• 97.4

•Total

• 38

• 100• 

EMA includes PWD in Planning

YesNo

Freq

uen

cy

40

30

20

10

0

37

1

Performance Measurement

•performance measurement score

• 38

• 15

• 100

• 72.13

• 25.99

• 73

• 99• • • • • 

•Descriptive Statistics for the Performance

Measurement Score

• Variable

• N

• Min.

• Max.

• M

• SD

• Median

• Mode

Open Ended Responses• We have all inclusive drills.• We had a building collapse

in 1990.• H1N1 helped us learn.• We are building trust now.• A Drill we had opened our

eyes.• We have good

communication with PWD.• Our plan is being revised.• PTSD a problem.

• We include all affected people.

• We have multi county response teams for PWD.

• We have limited staff and resources.

• Mobility is a problem for PWD.

• No more useless 5 lb. plans!

• Red Cross handles our plan.

• Transportation is a problem.

Significance of the Study Findings

• The Findings of the study include:• Significance for the original research question: There is a big

improvement in this area.• Significance for the literature of theories and strategies of

emergency management. This is a major change from prior studies.

• Significance for the research methods employed in the study. Since this is a qualitative study, a follow up survey or other quantitative study needs to be done.

• Significance for policies and strategies of Midwestern Emergency Managers. Many EMA’s will need to adopt practices that I discovered in my study especially use of volunteers.

• Significance for me as a newly minted scholar-practitioner. I would like to do the follow up study and confirm my outcomes.