Be Connected! Inclusive Planning Tips for Emergencies

Second in our National Preparedness Month series

September is National Preparedness Month. This year, we partnered with the Coalition on Inclusive Emergency Planning (CIEP) to offer preparedness tips for people with disabilities, access and functional needs.

As part of our series that started with “Be Alert” earlier this month, this week’s theme is Be Connected.

You may often hear the advice, “in times of emergency, check on your neighbors.” That’s because when we connect with our neighbors and the resources in our community, it increases our ability to respond to and recover from disasters. It’s especially true for people with access and functional needs — physical, developmental or intellectual disabilities, and chronic conditions or injuries — plus older adults and people with limited English proficiency.

Connect with your Neighbors

Disasters can bring out the best in all of us, and people are often willing to help each other. Here’s how you can prepare with your neighbors:

• Know who can walk to your home to help you if no other transportation is available.
• Create a “buddy system” of checking in on each other; the best time is now, before a disaster strikes.
• Determine who has skills and unique talents they can share. For example, some people like to prepare food or share the results of their gardening skills. One neighbor may have tools and equipment to repair a leaky roof. Another neighbor may be a retired police officer who can ensure your area is safe. Someone in your building may work in the medical field and have knowledge beyond basic first aid.
• Develop relationships with people you see often at home, work, or school. Exchange your strong skills with their strong skills.

Connect with your Support Network

Even if you’re prepared, you might experience a temporary disruption in meeting your access and functional needs during the first few days after a major disaster. So, it’s important to create a backup plan. Here’s how.

• Develop your own support team. People with disabilities and other access and functional needs may already have a support network. Think of your personal assistant or caregiver, your support service provider, your interpreter — people you rely on to help meet your basic life needs.
• Identify at least five people to be your support network who can help with your communication, self-care, and transportation needs. Not all may be available during the first few days after a disaster or extreme weather event. Keep a list of those people and their phone numbers.
• Be aware that communication networks may be down, or that interpreters and caregivers that need to come to you could be hard to find because they are attending to their own issues.
• Develop a communication plan by assigning someone out of the area where your family can check in. It will be much easier for you to call out of the area than for people to call in.
• If you are not able to use voice or video, try texting; it requires minimal bandwidth to transmit.
• Discuss your disaster plans with your home health care provider.

Connect with your Community

You may need to help yourself first before you can go out and help others. Here are some ways to get connected with local emergency-response resources.

• Enroll in your local Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program to learn basic disaster survival skills.
• Your local fire department may maintain a list of people with special medical needs; if they do, ask to be included.
• Create a profile with your local 9–1–1 call center to flag your address and phone number. Notify responders that you or someone in your household may need extra support, such as a tactile American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter or have critical medical issues.

* These lists, profiles, or registries do not always guarantee quicker service.

Getting connected before an emergency strikes can help save lives. Check out these other general preparedness tips and these tips for people with access and functional needs. Watch for more tips later this month on how to Be Ready and Be Aware.

Written by guest blogger Jim House, Emergency Planning Disability Integration Manager, Coalition on Inclusive Emergency Planning (CIEP). CIEP is a statewide advisory group that focuses on access and functional needs (AFN) issues before, during, and after a disaster. CIEP is a program of the Washington State Independent Living Council (WASILC) and is funded by DOH.

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