THIS IS AN EXERCISE. IT IS NOT REAL.
- Suppose there was a fire in a building and you were on the top floor and in a wheelchair, and the elevators cannot be used. How do you get to safety?
- Maybe there is an earthquake. As an elderly person, you get trapped in rubble but are otherwise ok. How do you call for help?
- Or it could be one of Idaho’s winter storms with 50mph winds that knocks down electrical poles, taking out power at many of our rural farms, leaving the residents possibly with no heat.
- In the case of this blogex, there is pandemic flu and regular assistance resources are no longer operating because of staffing and supply issues. What are the backup resources?
The above situations show the importance of planning for special populations. Government agencies must review demographics and plan to assist people with special needs after an emergency or disaster.
Here in Southeastern Idaho, our priority special populations are rural elderly and disabled. We work closely with Southeast Idaho Council Of Governments to plan different response strategies to assist these special populations after a disaster. We are currently working together to schedule a special populations summit in October. All agencies for rural elderly or disabled assistance will be invited to attend.
Our primary guide for special populations planning is the National Organization on Disability, with an accompanying website at www.nod.org. This website has many great planning tools and lots of good information. People with disabilities or other special needs are highly encouraged to review this website for preparedness and response information.
Two good pages from www.nod.org
- - Disability and Emergency Preparedness Information: http://www.nod.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Feature.showFeature&FeatureID=1136
- - “Prepare Yourself” brochures: http://www.nod.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Feature.showFeature&FeatureID=1539
Other special populations SDHD plans for include non-English speakers. We have all of our documents available in Spanish and all of our bio-terrorism response information sheets are available in 46 different languages. Items that aren’t currently in non-English are easily converted using Idaho State University resources and translation pages on the internet (paste into the page and click convert!).
SDHD also works closely with the Shoshone-Bannock tribes Emergency Management office. This is an excellent working relationship, and we routinely participate in each other’s exercises. Ft Hall will be establishing an alternate care site on July 30 along with the other counties.
Some special population considerations for pandemic flu include:
1. If you rely on oxygen tanks, having additional resources on-hand at home or guaranteed availability during disaster.
2. If you are on dialysis, be sure you are still able to conduct dialysis manually.
3. If you are in the rural elderly group and rely on various services for meals and/or transportation, do you have family, friends, or neighbors who will be able to help you when those services are not available?
4. If you rely on electricity for medical support, do you have backup electrical sources such as a small generator in case electricity is not available?
Government personnel should consider: Reviewing NOD’s guide for officials and experts responsible for emergency planning. Available at http://www.nod.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Feature.showFeature&FeatureID=1034
Business personnel should consider: What measures do you have in place to assist disabled employees or customers in your facilities if a disaster should strike?
Private Citizens should consider: If you are a special needs population, review the information available at www.nod.org For everyone else, consider knowing who in your community has special needs so you can check on them after a disaster; review the disability information for how you can help your neighbors who are disabled.
All readers are encouraged to leave a comment about the how this exercise scenario might impact your lives.
THIS IS AN EXERCISE. IT IS NOT REAL.
July 18, 2008 at 9:31 am |
I’m re-posting my last two comments, which I regrettably buried several pages back, and would appreciate suggestions.
July 18, 2008 at 9:32 am |
A view from the top – preparing for and responding to a severe pandemic
Our jurisdiction’s philosophy: During a flu pandemic, people will need a combination of personal/family preparedness, community sustainability, and effective government. Shamelessly extracting from “The Need to Prepare” in http://www.getpandemicready.org :
“Effective governments lead the way. Local and State governments must lead the way by informing the public of the threat, educating citizens about the possibilities, and encouraging them to prepare in their own way. Governments prepare citizens and institutions for the early use of community mitigation measures to reduce spread of disease when medicines and vaccines are unavailable. They maintain civil order, ensure essential services are operating, and that drugs and vaccines, when available, are distributed fairly.
Governments will NOT have the means to stockpile food and supplies for their populations, however, and it has been made clear that they will not be doing this.
Communities need to be resilient. Communities and businesses within them must be prepared to function in an environment of uncertain supplies, staffing and utilities. Essential workers need to be able to come to work in environments where chance of infection is minimized and necessary provisions have been stockpiled.
Individuals and families must be prepared. Having food, water, medicines and personal protective supplies is an excellent way to prepare for the potential disruption of a pandemic. Also important is mental preparation and resourcefulness. Every single family that has prepared on its own will reduce the demand on strained and insufficient community resources.”
These are keystones of a “culture of preparedness” described in the National Strategy for Homeland Security, Oct. 2007. Success or failure rests on local implementation.
Hence the importance of a comment from Laqueta a few days ago … “Neighborhood groups – a must to get involved early for accounting vulnerable persons, early organization of community leadership for community block containment.”
In a severe pandemic, as the critical infrastructure degrades, we anticipate that neighborhood groups will form. Local governments can assist in this process, and help maximize public health and safety.
July 18, 2008 at 9:32 am |
Implementation.
In this exercise, we are at WHO level 5. Flu coverage is all over the news media, and people are becoming aware and concerned. This posting concerns two critical issues: How can local government help build resilient neighborhoods, even in advance of pandemic onset? When a pandemic begins, how can local government provide public health and safety?
Our approach is “Neighborhood Emergency Teams” (NET Teams). These are two-person teams who visit residents in a pre-designated area to address basic needs. For our teams, we pair a city/county employee with a volunteer. Example volunteer sources are Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) and Medical Reserve Corps (MRC).
A WHO level 5 alert would be a good time to use the NET teams to bring health information to each house, and encourage at least minimal preparations, even if only a supply of water from the tap.
After severe pandemic onset, the use of NET teams is increasingly important. Initially, they can help neighborhoods organize themselves to become more resilient. As the infrastructure degrades, the NET teams are increasingly the vital link between the citizens and local government that is trying to address their health and safety needs.
OK…down to business. NET teams represent local government. When they visit/call houses, they use the “NET Guidebook.” This was written by Nez Perce County Emergency Management, and North Central District Health, with contributions from very pandemic flu-knowledgeable citizens.
The guidebook is at:
http://www.co.nezperce.id.us/emergencymanagement/Commissioners/EmergencyManagement/tabid/564/Default.aspx (click on ‘NET Guidebook’)
Also at this address is the “Stay at Home Toolkit for Influenza,” adapted from Montgomery County, MD by our health district. For this exercise, this ‘toolkit’ would be an ideal handout for NET teams to leave with each house. (click on ‘Flu Toolkit’)
The NET Guidebook is a FREE document, with the only restriction in the copyright being that it cannot be used for commercial ventures – as in selling it to jurisdictions/organizations. A MS Word 2007 version is available if you desire to modify for your organization (content, logos, contact numbers, etc). For the MS Word 2007 version, please email melvinjohnson@co.nezperce.id.us
July 18, 2008 at 10:01 am |
Well, having difficulties posting. Part II (which has a link to the NET Guidebook) is the last entry on the July 16 topic “The Time to Prepare is Now.”
July 18, 2008 at 10:21 am |
Special populations – the deaf and blind.
It is hard to print books in brail though they are special population.
I bring up the deaf because so many people assume they have no trouble reading and that many things are closed captioned. Please watch CC. Often the translation is not perfect and spills over onto the comercials.
Also reading involves sounding out words. This not only happens for new words like zoonotonic but avian.
For example try to read these sentances. I promise they all make sense.
The dove dove into the bush.
We wound the wound with gauze.
The doe does as the does do too.
Here are some words to read – read the capitolized word only.
SYNAESTHETE – A person for whom sense impressions occur through stimulation of a different sense to that expected. They see light, taste sound or hear smells.
LEIOTRICHOUS – Having straight hair. It comes from Greek ‘leios’, smooth, plus ‘trikhos’, hair.
I also mention the deaf because of TDDs and realy centers that relay TDD calls to hearing doctors, nurses, police, etc.
Note: many deaf people do not use cell phones. Some text, some do not. What is the % of those who text in your area?
Regards,
Kobie
“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” Mark Twain
Some jokes
What language do pigs speak? – Swine language.
What language do porcupines speak? – Spine language.
What language do billboards speak? – Sign language
What is the lettering on the back of the sports jersys called – clothes captioning.
July 18, 2008 at 2:34 pm |
Neighborhood groups are very important to disabled groups. A key item is to know your neighbors and who is at risk of not being able to care for themselves. If you know a neighbor is deaf or blind, you should consider it a moral obligation to assist them. That said, there are certain methods of approach that are more effective than others, but the easiest is to talk to them about disaster preparedness BEFORE an event.
July 18, 2008 at 3:04 pm |
SdhTraing,
Neighborhood groups can be important.
I hope people will help.
We had a mass inuclation drill where I played a deaf person and no one could talk to me. They had some pictures to aide communication but it caught them off guard.
Here is free basic medical sign language guide from Califormia.
http://www.dss.cahwnet.gov/CDSSWEB/entres/forms/English/pub391.pdf
Sign language is a skill. The deaf community often aids eachother – if they know about a problem. Here faith based groups are very helpful.
The blind have a transportation problem the deaf and wheel chair bound may not.
Will the exercise continue tomorrow (19, july 2008)??
Regards and have a good weekend,
Kobie
Do a good deed daily – Sir Baden Powell, founder of scouting.
July 18, 2008 at 4:23 pm |
Even in a small community, most people do not know all of their neighbors. I would think people are even less likely to know neighbors with special needs because these people are more difficult to communicate with and may spend less time outside of the house. Any recommendations for getting to know the people in our neighborhoods? Should we go door-to-door and ask if they will have special needs in an emergency? This seems like a strange thing to do, so I’m wondering if there is an easier or less awkward way to do this.
July 18, 2008 at 4:48 pm |
Hello Tera,
May I suggest in http://www.getpandemicready.org … In the center section, go to “Community Reislience” which is under the “Safety” topic.
July 18, 2008 at 11:44 pm |
Great resources.
We must get creative to encourage empowerment.
meet persons where they visit (church,dr office, grocery , transportation)
Promote team development and person taking the lead for say phone trees.
bring out advocats with in small areas so participation in the planning process can be easier for persons in wheel chairs, blind, hearing impaired other.
July 19, 2008 at 5:57 am |
Tera,
Hi – I agree with you. One answer – food. Works wonders. Goes all the way back to cave man days. Here are some possible senarios.
1) Block party. Even if it is just a couple of families bring out the grills others will follow and want to join. The hardest part is being the first – then it gets easier. Seperate soda in green cooler from adult beverages in red cooler.
2) Haloween – ok its candy not food but people come out. Make sure you introduce your self and get to know one fact about them.
3) Have lunch with your kid if they are in 4th grade or below. 5th, 6th, 8, and higher do not like parents showing up. Neither does the school admin in alot of places.
4) Suggest a pot-luck bithrday luncheon at work for everyone having a birthday that month. It is amzing how people can work together and not know each other.
5) Dinner with the minister at church for *all* services. Often people go to the same place at different times and do not know each other. This goes for all who congregate from neo-pagen to traditional faith groups to those who are happy with reality. This is more than just HN1, this is a community effort.
6) Scouting – hmm we already eat. Food is a great thing, just no red coolers – only green coolers. Only green ones with lots of water.
Tip: leave out some pandemic info in only two or three spots and let others pick up the information. Very non threatning, very easy and great for shy folks.
Hope some of this helps Tera,
Laqueta – good post. I hope you can see there is friendly help out there. Please do re-enforce peoples empowerment and know they are fully franchised.
Regards,
Kobie
“United we stand, divides we fall”