Basic Principles of Emergency Care

It is helpful to remember several basic principles or objectives of emergency care.

1. Provide for basic survival needs and comfort (e.g., liquids, food, shelter, clothing).

2. Help survivors achieve restful and restorative sleep.

3. Preserve an interpersonal safety zone protecting basic personal space (e.g., privacy, quiet, personal effects).

4. Provide nonintrusive ordinary social contact (e.g., a "sounding board," judicious uses of humor, small talk about current events, silent companionship).

5. Address immediate physical health problems or exacerbations of prior illnesses.

6. Assist in locating and verifying the personal safety of separated loved ones or friends.

7. Reconnect survivors with loved ones, friends, and other trusted people (e.g., AA sponsors, work mentors).

8. Help survivors take practical steps to resume ordinary daily life (e.g., daily routines or rituals).

9. Help survivors take practical steps to resolve pressing immediate problems caused by the disaster (e.g., loss of a functional vehicle, inability to get relief vouchers).

10. Facilitate resumption of normal family, community, school, and work roles.

11. Provide survivors with opportunities to grieve their losses.

12. Help survivors reduce problematic tension, anxiety, or despondency to manageable levels.

13. Support survivors' local helpers through consultation and training about common stress reactions and stress management techniques.