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“Disaster Lights” &

“Disaster Heavies:” Relevant Emergency

Preparedness Information for People with Disabilities

[ILRU Webcast 2 Parts], 11/9,16/2007

www.jik.com jik@pacbell.net

310.821.7080,Fax:310.827.0269

June Isaacson Kailes Associate Director

jik@pacbell.net

310.821.7080

www.cdihp.org Western University

of Health SciencesPomona, California

Established 1998

CDIHP works to enhance health of people with disabilities through:–public policy, –consulting,–training, –research & –dissemination activities.

Outcome• Doing a little is much

better than doing nothing!

• Take small steps that move you toward better preparedness.

All Hazard

Planning

Hazards•Scale: large & small

•Frequency: high & low

•Risks: high & low

Name some hazards:

• Low Risk – High Frequency?

• Low Risk – Low Frequency?

• High Risk – Low Frequency? • High Risk – High Frequency?

“Planners cannot foresee every outcome, & incident managers

cannot anticipate every scenario. While disasters have a language of their own & no

plan guarantees success, inadequate plans are proven

contributors to failure.”

Lessons documented:Words are easy to write,

Steps are easy to list,

the doing, making it real,

& sustaining it,

is hard!

The devil is in the detail!

Cover• Making it real - “about & for us” vs.

“with & by us!”• Preparing - Why bother?• Evaluating your skills • Support teams• Communication & Public Warning • Plans• Those dreaded drills• Supplies & kits

Intended Outcomes •Cultivate thinking regarding what you can do that is different from what you have been doing.

Intended Outcomes • Recognize that emergency

preparedness:–Is a life style choice, not a time

limited project.

–literacy & competencies need to be developed, practiced & woven into your culture, policies, procedures, & advocacy.

Your task today

• Make a specific priority list.

• What will you do in:– 1 month?

– 2 months?

– 6 months?

– Ongoing ?

ObjectivesMaking Lessons Documented

Real!

People with People with disabilities & disabilities &

activity limitations activity limitations need relevant need relevant information information

Some disability specific materials are:

• Vague• Incomplete• Impractical• Naïve &• Language used is:

– outdated – condescending– offensive– perpetuates negative attitudes & false

stereotypes

Preparedness materials Preparedness materials for PWDALfor PWDAL

• Sometimes need to be augmented:–Some advice for general population is not always equally applicable.

Get Get Specific!Specific!

Wheelchair users are instructed to:

“Show friends how to operate your wheelchair so they can move you if necessary. Make sure your friends know the size of your

wheelchair in case it has to be transported.” FEMA’s Disaster Preparedness

for People with Disabilities, 2003

Vague and incomplete!

Get Get Real!Real!

• If you are confined to a wheelchairconfined to a wheelchair, consider mounting a small “personal use” fire extinguisher in an accessible place on your wheelchair & become familiar with its use.

• Then, if you cannot “stop, drop, & roll” during a fire, you should “pull, aim, squeeze, & sweep.”

(Fire Risk Series published by the FEMA & US Fire Administration 1999)

Get Get Current!Current!

• Information must be Information must be easily available, easily available, through same means through same means as other material is as other material is distributeddistributed

• with specific & useful with specific & useful advice in accessible & advice in accessible & usable formats &usable formats &

• language.

Usable formats….

•braille

•large print

•text (disk)

•audio•appropriate for Non‑English speakers & people who have difficulty reading.

• Develop emergency preparedness materials that integrates information re: PWDAL into general preparedness materials as well as inform readers how to access more customized materials.

• Compile & distribute, & when not available, create customized preparedness materials that: –have specific content, useful

& relevant to people with limitations in hearing, vision, mobility, speech, & cognition.

• Specificity & detail

• Disability diversity perspective

• Written from disability experience

• Not about what people can do for us, but what we can do for ourselves!

• Easy to get

• Usable - alternative formats

Materials need:

Use general & customized

disability specific planning

materials

Contact Your Local Emergency Information

Management Office:Some local emergency

management offices maintain registers of people with

disabilities so you can be located & assisted quickly in a

disaster.

Consider getting a medical alert system that will allow you to call for help if you are immobilized in

an emergency. Most alert systems require a working phone

line, so have a back-up plan, such as a cell phone or pager, if

the regular landlines are disrupted .

If you have an audio perceptual disability, work particularly hard to understand the environment.

Watch body language so you will know when it’s a good time to

ask a question of a shelter staff member or other occupant.”[9]

Since September 11th, many people with disabilities have

expressed reluctance to depend on areas of refuge, wanting to evacuate with everyone else.

This may not always be possible, so learn the location of your building’s designated refuge

areas.

“If you do not own a vehicle or drive, find out in advance what your community’s plans for evacuating those without private transportation.” “Let your personal care attendant know you have registered, and with whom. If you are electric-dependent, be sure to register with your local utility company.”

Visit websites below for additional information:

• www.access-board.gov – Access Board

• www.aoa.dhhs.gov– DHHS Administration on Aging

• www.ncd.gov– National Council on Disability

• www.afb.org– American Foundation for the Blind

• www.nad.org– National Association of the Deaf

• www.easter-seals.org– Easter Seals

So speak up!So speak up!We need We need

relevantrelevant informationinformation

Why Prepare• Increase confidence

• Know what to do

• Be calm

• Stay in charge

• Protect your self

4 Stages of Disaster Denial

1. It won’t happen here.

2. Even if it happens here, it won’t happen to me.

3. Even if it happens to me, it won’t be that bad.

4. Even if it’s that bad, there’s nothing I could have done about it anyway.

Eric Holdeman, Director of Emergency Management, Seattle's King County

Lessons documented:Words are easy to write,

Steps are easy to list,

the doing, making it real,

& sustaining it,

is hard!

The devil is in the detail!

91% of Americans live in places at moderate-to-high risk of:

earthquakes,volcanoes,tornadoes, wildfires, hurricanes,flooding,high-wind damage or terrorism.

Fact: Like it or not you will be involved -- plan now or suffer & muddle through

later!

Most important message!

Avoid Avoidance

Ability Self-assessment

Learn What You Can And Can Not Do

Self Test

Establish

Support

Teams

Rethink and UpdateBuddy Systems

Training one person to assist in an emergency!

What’s wrong with the buddy system

Rethink & Update Buddy SystemsTraining one person to assist in an emergency

Major weaknesses: PERSON & LOCATION DEPENDENT!

• Person may be absent

• You may be in area different from usual location

• You may be at site after regular hours when buddy not available

Trash the Buddy System!

Support Teams• people who will help you in an emergency as needed.

• should be people who are regularly in same area as you.

Universal Team Approach

• If everyone is trained, everyone can help!

• Everyone knows what to do!

Establish Support Team

• Establish support relationships with many individuals.

• At each location where spend significant part of day:– Job– Home– School – Volunteer site

Establish Support Teams

•Place a quarterly reminder on calendar to check and update your support teams

Establish Support Teams

• Conduct practice sessions to ensure individuals you choose are capable of offering assistance you need:– i.e.: strong enough,– can communicate clearly, – can guide you safely.

• Know how you will instantly create a support team

Establish Support Teams

•Know how you will instantly create a support team

Master Skill of Giving Quick Information on How to Best Assist

Clear, concise: • Take my oxygen tank.

– Additional information (if needed): • Right side of green bookcase

I can breath without it for 15 minutes

• Take my communication device from table, I’m also hard of hearing.

• Take my manual wheelchair. • The traditional "fire fighter's carry" is

hazardous for me because of my respiratory condition. Carry me by ...

Master Skill of Giving Quick Information on How to Best Assist

Clear, concise: • I can manage steps independently,

carry my other crutch & walk in front of me.

• I need to hang on to you, I have poor balance, but I can walk steps.

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Communication

Plan Multiple Ways to Give & Get Information

• TV• Radio• E-mail • Cell phone • Standard phone

–no electricity needed

•Pagers

•Internet

•Text messaging• Low cost two –

way radios

Emergency Plans

Plans•Home•Neighborhood•Work•School

Planning questions

Plan for all events:

•Evacuate –Need to remain in immediate area

–Need to leave area

•Shelter in Place

• If you need to stay in your home for several days (in your home, at school, or at work) what medications, diet, & other emergency supplies would you need?

• What would you do if you were without power & water?

• What evacuation assistance might you need & where could you get it?

Be realistic!

Determine & Prioritize All Evacuation Options

• Being Carried • Use of Evacuation Chairs • Area of Refuge/Rescue

Assistance • Use of Elevators

Keep List of Out-of-state Contacts

• Friends or relatives

• Include people outside affected

• List contacts in priority order (1st first person reached calls others on list to let them know you are ok.)

• Give everyone on list a copy of list.

Power Issues

Devices That Use Rechargeable Batteries

• Plan how you will recharge batteries if electricity is out.

• Check with vendor/supplier to see if there are alternative ways to charge batteries.

Life-Support Devices That Depend On Electricity

• Contact local electric company regarding "priority reconnection service."

• Even with "priority reconnection service,” power could still be out for many days.

• Vital to have power backup options for equipment.

• Talk to equipment suppliers about options.

The following can be found at: www.jik.com/disaster.html CLICK - on NEW:Emergency Power Planning for

People Who Use Electricity and Battery Dependent Assistive Technology and Medical Devices. 2006

Reading:Reading:

DRILLSTo know it, is to do it

Emergency Plan Coordinators

• Practice plans:– through regular drills

– use of all exits

– using evacuation devices with intended users

Are people with disabilities & activity limitations who are at site

included in:

•Creating Plan?

•Reviewing Plan?

•Practicing Plan?

•Updating Plan?

Practice Plans through Regular Drills

• Increases skills

• Instills confidence

Practice & drills consist of:

• walk through procedures,

• announced drills,• surprise drills.

Walk Through Procedures• Devote portions of staff meetings to discuss & practice

parts of plan.• Concentrate efforts on particular parts of plan &

particular individuals requiring more extensive practice like:– Practicing evacuation techniques,– use of evacuation devices,– methods of transferring in & out of them,– carrying techniques, – use of two-way communication systems in areas of rescue.

• Critical that fire wardens are involved.

Announced Drills• Help identify crucial coordination

activities & communication links.• Good time to practice:

–communicating emergency information to people w/ vision & hearing loss,

–coping w/ different scenarios & unforeseen situations such as blocked paths or exits.

Surprise Drills• 2-3 times a year, different times of day &

different shifts.

• Include realistic elements (e.g., blocked paths or exits).

• Evaluate performance & feedback given to all participants.

• Make plan revisions & updates after these evaluations.

SUPPLIES

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YOYO 3? YOYO 5 / 7

Kits

•Carry on you•Grab & go•Home•Bedside

Carry on you• essential items you need to

keep with you at all times

ICEIn case of emergency

Grab and go kit• easy-to-carry• can grab if you have to leave

home (or school, workplace, etc.) in a hurry.

• have things you cannot do without but are not so large cannot manage them.

Home Kit large kit water, food, first aid supplies,

clothing, bedding, tools, disability-specific items. things you would most need if you

had to be self-sufficient for days either at home or in an evacuation shelter.

Bedside Kit items you will need if you are trapped in or near bed & unable to get to other parts of your home.

What to do first?• Do not need to do everything all at once

• Do a little at a time, so by the end of six months you have all or most of your plan completed &supplies collected.

If you always doIf you always do what you always did, what you always did,

you always get you always get what you always got.what you always got.

Is that enough?Is that enough?

"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. 

Willing is not enough; we must do." Goethe

So…it’s

• Your health• Your safely• Your choice• Your call • Your life!

Please completePlease complete

Workshop Workshop EvaluationEvaluation

THANK YOU THANK YOU

Attend to your plan’s:

• Specificity• Usability• Up to date• Records protection • Agreements• Communication• Supplies• Evacuation • Drills / Training

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If you always doIf you always do what you always did, what you always did,

you always get you always get what you always got.what you always got.

Is that enough?Is that enough?

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"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. 

Willing is not enough; we must do." Goethe

So…it’sSo…it’s• Your Responsibility• Your health• Your safely• Your choice• Your call • Your life!

The following can be found at: www.jik.com/disaster.html CLICK - on NEW: Emergency Preparedness: Taking

Responsibility For Your Safety - Tips for People with Activity Limitations and Disabilities. 2006 (Written by Kailes & Wallrich for the Los Angeles County).

Emergency Power Planning for People Who Use Electricity and Battery Dependent Assistive Technology and Medical Devices. 2006

Readings:Readings:

www.cdihp.org–Products–Emergency Safety Information

www.espfocus.org

Emergency Evacuation Preparedness: Taking Responsibility for Your Safety - A Guide for People with Disabilities and Other Activity Limitations. 2002 www.cdihp.org/products.html

Reading:Reading:

www.cdihp.org–Products–Emergency Health Information

www.cdihp.org–Products–Evacuation

Preparedness