Jeffrey Upperman, MD, surgeon-in-chief at Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, talks about why the U.S.
needs a coordinated initiative to emphasize the impact of disasters on children to improve both future crisis responses and the care of children in the immediate aftermath and as they develop. Upperman, a national leader in pediatric trauma and disaster preparedness , is among the authors of the Pediatric Disaster Science Series from the National Academy of Medicine that published in late September as scenes of Hurricane Helene's devastation emerged across the Southeast, underscoring the need to formalize response, research and care efforts. "Many of us in the field felt we needed to make strong statements on what we believe are responsible frameworks for filling gaps in the work around disasters at large.
It's not just about a pandemic or natural disasters ; it's about understanding what a framework would look like for understanding these problems in a prospective way, particularly around children. They are often left out of the planning because they are hard to study, spanning from zero to 21 years of age, each bringing different dynamics to the table. There's clearly not going to be a one-size-fits-all approach," said Upperman.
What's the goal of pediatric disaster science? Since we're at Vanderbilt, let's put it in pandemic terms. I would say we've got to cut down on the amount of time from when we know we have a problem to when we have a developed vacci.