Planning Equitable Accessibility to Dialysis Care: A Case Study of Hurricane Ida

Overview

In 2021, Hurricane Ida devastated much of New Orleans. Widespread power outages closed numerous dialysis centers (which provide critical medical services for patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), forcing patients to seek new facilities and leading to increased travel distance for vulnerable populations. Thus, this research employed the mathematical p-median problem using a set of GIS mapping tools to determine the optimal reassignment of potential patients to operational facilities before disaster, during disaster, and post- disaster. The results displayed overreliance on a few distinct dialysis centers in New Orleans. Additionally, via cluster analysis, significant increases in travel distance were found to be disproportionate among various demographic groups, highlighting the existence of socio-spatial inequalities in disaster recovery. First, the optimal solutions from the p-median problem showed that areas with high populations of residents aged 65+ were significantly more impacted than areas with few residents 65+. Second, though clusters of high and low median incomes did not show notable differences in travel distance increases, high income clusters exhibited much stronger resilience post-disaster. Finally, socio-spatial inequalities along the lines of race were strikingly clear: clusters of Black populations experienced disproportionately greater travel times and demonstrated poor resilience post-disaster. These findings highlight various stresses that individual dialysis centers experience during disasters and underscore which facilities require fortification to mitigate inequalities during disaster recovery. Additionally, the proposed framework of analysis can be utilized to optimize the redistribution of patients to critical locations and combat intrinsic socio-spatial inequalities within any given region.

Competition history

• JSHS 2022 Category not listed

Resources

• National JSHS abstract book ↗

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