Examples of Public Health Crisis

Gabby MartinMental Health

Trauma during a crisis and what you can do

Key-Points

  • What is a Public Crisis?

  • How Trauma Occurs During A Public Crisis

  • Effects On Public Health

  • Help is Available


Effects of a Crisis

All change is stressful; however, sometimes changes are so traumatic or so abrupt that they cause crises. We are talking about what the definition of a crisis actually is: a serious situation difficult to recover from.

Personal crises can be caused by trauma, but to be clear, this article is talking about when people lose their lives, jobs, homes, savings, and health due to a public crisis.

Here we'll be talking about public crises that can leave trauma in essential parts of your life, such as:

We will be discussing both dealing with crises at the moment they are happening, as well as how we process and deal with them later. Everyone deals with trauma differently; however, some basic guidelines can make crises easier to handle.

How Does Trauma Occur During a Crisis?

Not everyone experiences trauma during a crisis, but you may suddenly have feelings that overwhelm you. You may feel fear, emotional numbness, shock, confusion, or a mix of all those emotions at once.

The crisis, therefore, is the disaster that happened to you, while trauma is the overwhelming emotions that are sweeping you away.

Traumatic stress can shatter your worldview and sense of security and affect your physical and mental health. There is no wrong way to react to trauma. Everyone processes it differently. Sometimes the unpleasant physical and mental symptoms fade over time, and sometimes it takes help to move on with your normal life.

In this guide, we will not only be discussing various types of traumatic crises, but helpful tips to get help and feel safe again.

Trauma During a Financial Crisis

The definition of a financial crisis varies wildly based on a number of different causes, but is typically felt as panic after a significant market crash. When major crashes in the market occur, investors panic and withdraw from major financial institutions, so the value of financial assets drop and panic ripples everywhere.

The result is a recession that devalues the economy, including currency, stocks, and business assets. The end result is mass layoffs, high-interest loans, an overall decrease in spending, and even mass deaths. Yes, you read that right, financial crises can even cause an uptick in the annual death toll.

For example, the 2008 global financial crisis was caused by a burst in the real estate market. It affected both people who had invested in real estate who suddenly owned property worth far less than what they paid, as well as homeowners. Many homeowners suddenly found themselves with mortgages that were higher than the value of their homes.

This created a perfect cocktail of evictions and job loss. Of course, both spell a recipe for significant mental distress. CNN estimated that the stress caused by the recession and unemployment led to more than 5,000 suicides. And that's not counting how many later died due to heart disease and health problems because of the stress.

The best thing to do during a financial crisis is to stay calm. As difficult as it may be, a calm mind allows you to regroup and come up with a plan.

The Health Effects of a Water Crisis

We don't think much about tainted water, but a water crisis has effects on public health. Contaminated water can contain hundreds or thousands of potentially harmful diseases and bacteria, like Legionnaire's Disease, Hepatitis E, and E. Coli, just to name a few.

A perfect example of a public health-related water crisis is Flint, Michigan, where lead was found in the water. We may never know how many people were poisoned by tainted water during the crisis, but we do know the Flint water crisis caused serious health effects that endangered the lives of thousands.

The bacteria that causes Legionnaires' disease, the same disease that disturbed the Bronx in 2015, was supposed to be eliminated by water treatments. Sadly, corruption in Flint caused the water to be treated improperly.

Tragically, more people had been drinking tap water due to an economic downturn in Flint's economy. Nine people died, and countless more got sick from Legionnaires' disease. With proper management, the crisis could've been contained, but instead it was left unchecked, leading to the death of one too many.

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The Impact of a Nationwide Drug Crisis

The drug epidemic in the US is out of control and claims countless lives every year. The opioid epidemic is one of the saddest stories, as many of these people started with legitimate prescriptions.

As they got addicted to opioids, however, they could not stop taking them, leading to trauma in the lives of desperate addicts and their loved ones who watch the spiral unfold. Unfortunately, opioids are a difficult drug to quit and recover from and often result in overdose. In fact, just about 50,000 people in the U.S. died from opioid-related overdoses in 2019.

As well as opioids, Meth is thought to be one of the most common drugs to cause an overdose in rural America. It's not clear exactly how many have overdosed on meth each year, but we do know overdoses tripled from 1,887 to 6,762 between 2011 and 2016. These numbers alone indicate a Meth crisis in America, but did you know this crisis has an even further reach when it comes to public health?

Meth Lab DecontaminationMeth is a drug that is often homemade, meaning it contaminates the walls of the home it's made in and lowers its property value. Meth labs also attract crime to the neighborhood, further lowering the property values of the houses around it as well. Meth, furthermore, can be injected, and needles shared by addicts can spread infectious diseases like HIV and Hepatitis C, further deepening the trauma of surrounding communities.

If you suspect that your property was the site of a meth lab or a crack house, your health may be at risk. We can help ensure your property has been thoroughly remediated, contact us 24/7 for meth lab remediation.

Effects of a Public Health Crisis

A public health crisis like the one we saw of the recent pandemic is nothing to be underestimated. COVID-19 claimed the lives of over 300,000 people and was the 3rd leading cause of death in the US in 2020. But smaller public health crises break out all of the time.

For example, the flu season claims the lives of about 34,000 people in the US every year. Other examples of dangerous public health crises include the 2014 Ebola scare, the 1980s AIDS/HIV epidemic, and ongoing C. Diff outbreaks.Public Health Crisis Effects

Outbreaks of any size are serious because the full extent of the infection is not clear to the visible eye. Bio Recovery offers disinfection services for potentially fatal biomatter. Contact us anytime if you need a professional to sanitize your home or building.

Remember, these viral outbreaks don't only affect the victims of the pandemics. They also affect the communities, businesses, and first responders where the outbreak may spread.

These viruses can be highly dangerous. It cannot be overstated that proper sanitization methods are essential to fighting an outbreak.

We're Here to Help

It's traumatizing and unfortunate to be in the aftermath of any crisis, but if you need our cleanup services, Bio Recovery is here to help 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Contact us for more information.

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