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Emergency Preparedness for Vulnerable Populations

This guide to useful web sites covers many facets of disaster and emergency preparedness for people with disabilities and other vulnerable populations.

GENERAL MATERIALS AND INFORMATION

http://www.nod.org/research_publications/emergency_preparedness_materials/

The National Organization on Disability (NOD) materials on emergency preparedness includes tips for people with disabilities, key steps people with disabilities need to take before an emergency and information to raise general awareness of the needs of people with disabilities in critical situations.

http://papremisealert.com/images/form.pdf

SPEAK Unlimited- Premise Alert Request Form—Person Specific Information for First Responders. People wishing to convey special instructions about what they will need in a disaster to emergency and public safety officials can fill out this form and send it to their local police station.

http://www.cert-la.com/education/Emergency-Plan-Disabilities.English.pdf

This is a simple, easy-to-use checklist to prepare a person with disabilities for a long list of potential disasters. Having a plan and knowing what to do is your best protection and an important responsibility.

http://www.jik.com/disaster-plan.html

June Isaacson Kailes – Disability Policy Consultant: This leading disability and disaster expert’s website shares resources on communication access, evacuation, planning guides, etc. and shows what some community organizations and state and local governments are doing to protect people with disabilities in disasters.

http://cdd.unm.edu/products/tipsforfirstresponders.htm

University of New Mexico- Center for Development and Disability—tips for first responders. This resource offers tips for first responders serving vulnerable populations such as seniors, people with autism, people with mobility impairments and people with cognitive disabilities

http://www.hhs.gov/od/topics/advocacy/advocacy.html

Health and Human Services Office on Disability Resources

BOOKLETS AND GUIDES TO HELP ORGANIZE PERSONAL DISASTER PLANNING

http://www.dpcma.org/Publications/tabid/423/Default.aspx

This booklet help develop a personal disaster plan. It covers key areas including issues related to service animals, the need to practice your plan, go bags, shelters, evacuation, community plans, support networks, key documents, etc.

http://serve.mt.gov/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Disaster-Preparedness-for-People-with-Disabilities.pdf This booklet contains information that can help you organize a personal disaster plan. Anyone

who has a disability or anyone who works with, lives with, or assists a person with a disability can use this booklet. It is designed with checklists and extra space for you or your helper to use to organize information that will help you prepare for a disaster 

http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=1442

This booklet will help people with disabilities prepare and emergency plan to protect themselves, family, friends, personal care assistant and others in the support network in the event of an emergency. Post the plan where everyone will see it, keep a copy with you and make sure everyone involved in your plan has a copy.

http://inclusivepreparedness.org/

The INCLUSIVE PREPAREDNESS CENTER (IPC) works to include everyone in emergency planning, response and recovery -- particularly those more vulnerable to natural and man-made disasters. This source includes disaster readiness planning guides and special information for children with disabilities.

http://www.disastersrus.org/MyDisasters/disability/disability.pdf

Red Cross Emergency Preparedness for People with Disabilities – Checklists. This booklet can help people organize a personal disaster plan including service animal care plans and checklists with extra space for people to organize information that will help them prepare for a disaster

http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop09022/sna2_legislation.htm. Disaster Preparedness for People/Families of People with Disabilities (with sites for fillable forms/checklists)

INFORMATION ADDRESSING NEEDS OF SPECIFIC GROUPS (E.G., ELDERLY, PEDIATRIC, PEOPLE WITH ACCESS AND FUNCTIONAL NEEDS)

http://preparedness.asph.org/perlc/documents/VulnerablePopulations.pdf

This resource kit provides resources for the elderly, pediatric population, and other Members of the Vulnerable Populations. There are also a number of appropriate and effective practices in emergency preparedness for vulnerable populations.

http://www.hearinglossweb.com/Issues/EmergPlan/emerg_plan.htm#ok Emergency Planning for People with Hearing Loss, Help for Hearing Loss

This collection of articles provided by Help for Hearing Loss includes topics such as emergency preparedness for people with hearing loss, as well as people with various disabilities.

http://www.ilrcsf.org/resources/Visual.pdf

Emergency Tip sheets for People with Visual Disabilities, Independent Living Resource Center of San Francisco. This tip sheet advised people with visual disabilities on what to do before, during and after disasters.

http://aac-rerc.psu.edu/index.php/pages/show/id/4

Pennsylvania State University—Augmentative Assistive Communication (AAC)- Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC). Describes research programs and publications such as these disaster and emergency resources for people with complex communication needs.

http://mcn.educ.psu.edu/dbm/kennedy/index.htm

The AAC-RERC Webcast Series: This webcast series from AAC-RERC details how emergency and disaster preparedness relates to people with complex communication needs and how to ensure their safety.

http://disabilities.temple.edu/aacvocabulary/e4all.shtml

Temple University- Institute on Disabilities: A national leader in assistive technology, Disability Studies, and justice for people with disabilities. Downloadable communication displays for use during disasters/emergencies in English, Spanish, Haitian.

http://www.gwu.edu/~icdrm/publications/67-74_fernandez.pdf

A paper that identifies the vulnerabilities of elderly people to disasters, and how to develop strategies to address these vulnerabilities. Several management strategies are presented and recommendations for further action are proposed.

http://www.redcross.org/services/disaster/beprepared/seniors.html

Tips for Seniors and People with Disabilities: Disaster Preparedness for Seniors by Seniors, Rochester-Monroe County Chapter, American Red Cross. Website provides simple steps on sealing your home, keeping safe during a shelter-in-place emergency.

http://www.preparenow.org/ba-eprep.html

Basic Tips in Emergency Preparedness for Seniors and People with Disabilities, Bay Area Emergency Preparedness Coalition For Seniors and People with Disabilities.

This website lists tips for before, during, and after a disaster particularly related to what supplies to have on hand, how to prepare one's house for disaster, and evacuation needs.

http://www.bcm.edu/pdf/bestpractices.pdf

Baylor College of Medicine/ AMA/ AARP- Recommendations for the Best Practices in the Management of Elderly Disaster Victims. Covers lessons learned in disaster response from experiences on the Gulf Coast during Hurricane Katrina, best practices and aimed at keeping the elderly safe during disasters.

http://www.ready.gov/sites/default/files/documents/files/olderamericans_quadfold.pdf

FEMA- Preparing Makes Sense for Older Americans. Get Ready Now. This four-fold pamphlet describes the basic steps to take to prepare older Americans for disasters and emergencies.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/fy/fy62000.pdf

University of Florida—Disaster Planning Tips for Older Adults. This website compiles checklists of items that older adults and persons with different types of disabilities need in emergency and disaster situations.

http://www.chkd.org/documents/CareConnections/EmergencyPreparednessforFamilies.pdf

Emergency Preparedness for Families of Children with Special Needs. This booklet is designed to inform families of children who have special needs of what they can do to protect their families during emergencies and disasters.

http://www.autismriskmanagement.com/autism_on-scene_response_cards.cfm

Autism Risk & Safety Management: Training and resources for law enforcement, first responders, parents, educators, care providers, and the autism community

http://tattooswithapurpose.com/orderkitshere.html http://tattooswithapurpose.com/ordertattooshere.html

Temporary Tattoos with a Purpose: These temporary tattoos state “If I am lost, please help me be found!” to help others help people who may become lost (e.g. Children, people with Alzheimer’s, etc.).

ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY/EMERGENCY POWER PLANNING

www.jik.com/Power%20Planning%2010.24.09.pdf

This emergency power planning checklist is for people who use electricity and battery dependent assistive technology and medical devices. It also contains how to establish a support team, how to master the skill of giving quick information on how best to help you, advice from users, and sources for more information.

SHELTERING & EVACUATION PREPAREDNESS

http://www.cdihp.org/evacuation/introduction.html#who

This guide focuses on people with disabilities and activity limitations with the goal of strengthening evacuation preparedness. It encourages people with disabilities to be proactive about their evacuation preparedness instead of assuming building managers and public officials will have made proper preparations.

http://www.ilru.org/html/training/webcasts/archive/2003/08-27-PB.html

This web cast Disaster Mitigation and Persons with Disabilities, Independent Living Research Utilization emphasizes the need for individuals with disabilities to stockpile enough supplies to maintain independence for up to 72 hours, should shelter-in-place become necessary. Additionally, individuals should learn about support resources in neighboring communities.

http://www.dlcma.org/resources/Housing/HOU36%20Shelter%20Accommodations.pdf

Breaking Through the Barriers: A practical guide for shelters on reasonable accommodations.

Best practices manual helps administrators and staff of shelters better address the accommodation needs of people with disabilities seeking emergency shelter and recounts common issues encountered by shelter staff, disability advocates and those seeking shelter.

http://www.ct.gov/ctcdd/lib/ctcdd/guide_final.pdf

This Guide for Including People with Disabilities in Disaster Preparedness Planning, Connecticut Developmental Disabilities has several questionnaires designed for people with disabilities. Completing questionnaires will help people with disabilities prepare better for shelter-in-place emergencies.

http://oep.berkeley.edu/emergencies/evacuating/index.html#2

University of California, Berkeley—Evacuating a Building. Guidelines for evacuating a building and how to assist in planning for evacuation of people with physical disabilities.

http://www.nfpa.org/assets/files/pdf/forms/evacuationguide.pdf

National Fire Protection Association-- Emergency Evacuation Planning Guide For People with Disabilities. Explains general categories of disabilities, outlines elements of evacuation and includes a Personal Emergency Evacuation Planning Checklist building services managers and people with disabilities can use to design a personalized evacuation plan.

LEGAL ISSUES AND CIVIL RIGHTS

www.fema.gov/oer/reference/ada_1990.shtm

This document details the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). The ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, state and local government, public accommodations, commercial facilities, public and private transportation, and telecommunications. 

http://disability.lacity.org/

Los Angeles City Department on Disability. Department committed to ensuring full access to employment, programs, facilities and services; among their resources include Legal Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Attorney General’s New Handbook on Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and Emergency Preparedness for Persons with Disabilities Manual.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA):

Advocacy Resources:

LOCAL, STATE, FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INFORMATION

http://www.ada.gov/emerprepguideprt.pdf

An ADA Guide for Local Governments: Making Community Emergency Preparedness and Response Programs Accessible to People with Disabilities. This resource helps local governments understand what they must do to ensure that they can appropriately protect people with disabilities during emergencies based on laws relating to accessibility, communication, and emergency preparedness and response for people with disabilities.

http://www.nod.org/assets/downloads/Guide-Emergency-Planners.html

National Organization on Disability-- Functional Needs of People with Disabilities: A Guide for Emergency Managers, Planners and Responders. This guide highlights key disability concerns to emergency planning experts and officials in order to help them develop plans that take into account the needs and insights of people with disabilities before, during, and after emergencies.

State Disability Offices and Websites: http://www.hhs.gov/od/statepartners.html

Other Federal Resources: http://www.hhs.gov/od/topics/advocacy/advocacy.html%23FEDERAL%20WEB%20RESOURCES (for full list go to this address)

ADDITIONAL AGENCY RESOURCES:

Thanks to Harvey Pressman and the Central Coast Children’s Foundation for developing this list and supporting the mission of the Community Emergency Response Volunteers of the Monterey Peninsula.