Resilience in the Aftermath of The Gulf Of Mexico Oil Spill: An Academic-Community Partnership to Improve Health Education, Social Support, Access to Care, and Disaster Preparedness

Abstract

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill affords a unique opportunity to examine resilience from a transdisciplinary, systems perspective. In 2011, the National Research Council (NRC) in its publication “Building Community Disaster Resilience through Private-Public Collaboration” recommended research that results in quantitative risk and outcome markers, projects which strengthen community resilience, and to document best practices. Although the ecological impacts of oil spills are widely studied, the full picture displaying the impact on population health is a lesser-explored area. Disasters, both natural and technological, can result in both short-term and long-term stressors. Tulane University Transdisciplinary Research Consortium for Gulf Resilience on Women's Health (GROWH) and the Gulf Region Health Outreach Program (GRHOP) community engagement and community health navigation projects are examples of evidence-based interventions using trained community health workers (CHWs) to address NRCs recommendations by 1) assessing adherence to prenatal care and postpartum and infant health outcomes, 2) building bridges between health systems and communities – working to improve the relevance, acceptability, and accessibility of health services, 3) increasing access to occupational and environmental health specialists, and 4) improving the ability of Gulf Coast communities to withstand and recover from a disaster.