Leveraging public‐private partnerships to improve community resilience in times of disaster

Abstract

Many of today's healthcare personnel find themselves in a double-bind. The question is how to remain connected, caring and compassionate with patients, while mitigating the impact of chronic workplace stress? Mindfulness is emerging as a means to address this dilemma; it has the potential to both reduce workplace stress and boost employee resilience, while enhancing the patient experience. This article describes the development of a unique collaboration between local hospitals, primary care teams and a university, aimed at bringing mindfulness to life in healthcare. This is a conventional story of program development and evaluation, as well as an unconventional story of personal discovery, community-building, and organizational transformation. Each section of the paper highlights a critical success factor that we have uncovered in our journey, and poses a series of questions for contemplation. This paper aims to fill a gap in the literature by describing the key ingredients for developing and sustaining collaborations aimed at integrating mindfulness into the healthcare system.

Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory for modelling community resilience to natural disasters

“…Berger (2005) concluded that adopting a multi-systemic approach was effective, not only in dealing with individuals and families, but also in changing the mood and functioning of the community. Ager et al (2010), Kumpfer and Summerhays (2006), Landau (2007), Mertensmeyer and Fine (2000 and Ungar (2010) cite similar theoretical frameworks for assessing, initiating and sustaining change in traumatised individuals and families.At a different level, Stewart et al (2009) discuss the interrelationships between public and private organisations to support community resilience and described a model of interaction that parallels Bronfenbrenner's framework. Community resilience is embedded within its economic and social systems.…”

“…Most agree (e.g. Nelson et al 2007;Stewart et al 2009;Zhou et al 2010) that resilient communities integrate the adaptive capabilities of relevant stakeholders to manage the impacts of a disaster to create a positive trajectory of functioning and adaptation. Relevant stakeholders are private and public organisations and infrastructure and their management which might operate at local, state and federal levels (Berkes 2007).…”

“…At a different level, Stewart et al (2009) discuss the interrelationships between public and private organisations to support community resilience and described a model of interaction that parallels Bronfenbrenner's framework. Community resilience is embedded within its economic and social systems.…”

“…The response to disasters begins at the local level and must become a local/state level event before garnering the resources of the federal government. Stewart et al (2009) describe how privatepublic interaction can vary relative to government levels. First, federal agencies should typically interact with industry associations or large firms which have a national presence.…”

“…Moreover, some studies have identified that an individual's resilience might in fact be a barrier to the development of community level resilience (Li 2009;Sapountzaki 2007). This affects community recovery because of the interdependence of social and economic networks influencing community resilience to disasters (Stewart et al 2009). Flint and Luloff (2005) have stressed that research must focus on the recovery period post-disaster where there is currently an empirical gap, to understand the interdependence of individual and community resilience and because the response phase may or may not support the community's long-term recovery and resilience.…”