Special Needs Preparedness

For the millions of Americans who have physical, medical, sensory, or cognitive disabilities, emergencies such as fires, floods, severe weather, other natural disasters, and acts of terrorism present a real challenge.  The same challenge also applies to the elderly and other special needs populations.

Protecting yourself and your family when disaster strikes requires planning ahead.  The information below will help you get started.  Discuss these ideas with your family, friends, and/or personal care attendant, or anyone else in your support network and prepare and emergency plan.  Post the plan where everyone will see it, keep a copy with you and make sure everyone involved in your plan has a copy.

Click here to read more about Family Disaster Plans and to start your Family Readiness Guide today!

Why Prepare?

Being prepared for emergencies can reduce the fear, panic, and inconvenience that surround a disaster.  Emergencies and disasters can strike quickly and without warning and can force you to evacuate your neighborhood or confine you to your home.  What would you do if basic services – water, gas, electricity or telephones – were cut off?

You are in the best position to plan for your own safety as you are best able to know your functional abilities and possible needs during and after an emergency or disaster situation.  You can cope with a disaster by preparing in advance with your family and care attendants.  Following these four steps will better prepare you for when an emergency or disaster happens.

1. Get Informed, Stay Informed

• The first step is understanding the specific threats to your location.  In Amador County, hazards can vary significantly based on your neighborhood’s topography.  You can use Cal OES MyHazards (https://myhazards.caloes.ca.gov/) to enter your address and discover if you live in a high-risk zone for wildfires, floods, or earthquakes.  Knowing your risks allows you to prioritize the “basics” that will have the greatest impact on your safety.  

• Know your evacuation route:  Knowing your evacuation routes is a fundamental priority because it provides a clear, actionable path to safety when local risks escalate.  Amador County has an official Evacuation Map that identifies primary and alternate evacuation routes.  We encourage every resident to download this map and physically drive the suggested paths to become familiar with the various directions of travel available from their property.  Having this knowledge before an order is issued helps you move toward safety with confidence and speed when every second counts.  https://www.amadorfiresafe.org/community-evacuation-route-maps

Click here to read more about Evacuation Preparedness

• Information & Alerts: In an emergency, information is one of your most valuable assets.  Do not wait for a door-to-door notification.  Sign up for Amador County Emergency Alerts by clicking here.  Also, the Amador County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services uses Perimeter Map to provide our residents with a real-time visual representation of evacuation zones, road closures, and shelter locations.  We recommend bookmarking this website for future use: https://perimetermap.com/Amador-CA

2. Plans, Plans, Plans

• Creating a Family Readiness Guide, which includes a Communications Plan, is one of the most meaningful steps you can take to help protect the people you love.  Emergencies and disasters can happen with little or no warning, and having a clear, written plan can help your family know what to do, where to go, and how to stay connected when it matters most.  A Family Readiness Guide helps you identify your household’s unique needs, gather essential supplies, map evacuation routes, and establish communications strategies.  Taking the time to build this guide today can improve your family’s confidence, strengthen your ability to respond quickly, and offer peace of mind that you are taking practical steps toward greater readiness and resilience.

Click here to read more about Family Disaster Plans and to start your Family Readiness Guide today!

• Have a plan to evacuate and have a plan to shelter-in-place.  Depending on your circumstances and the nature of the emergency, the first important decision is whether to stay or go.  You should understand and plan for both possibilities.  Use common sense and available information to determine if there is immediate danger.  In any emergency, local authorities may not immediately be able to provide information on what is happening and what you should do.  However, you should monitor television, radio, internet, or social media news reports for information or official instructions as they become available.  If you’re specifically told to evacuate or seek medical treatment, do so immediately.  If you require additional travel time or need transportation assistance, consider ways you might make these arrangements in advance.  

Evacuation: There may be situations in which you decide to leave, or are ordered to leave.  Plan how you will get away and anticipate where you will go.  Choose several destinations in different directions so you have options in an emergency.  Ask about evacuation plans at the places where you spend time including work, school, community organizations, and other places you frequent.  If you typically rely on elevators, work with others to develop back-up plans for evacuation in case they are not working.  When traveling, consider alerting hotel or motel workers if you will need help in a disaster situation.  Keep your equipment with you in an evacuation, if at all possible.  If you must leave you wheelchair, bring your cushion.

Shelter-In-Place: Whether you are at home or elsewhere, there may be situations when it’s simply best to stay where you are and avoid any uncertainty outside.  Consider what you can do to safely shelter-in-place alone or with friends, family or neighbors.  Also consider how a shelter designated for the public would meet your needs.  Work with local emergency managers and others in your community on preparing shelters in advance to meet access and functional needs.  If you have options and decide to stay put and shelter-in-place, consider that you may be without electricity, phone service and accessible roads for days or longer.  

• Plan for your pets.  Build an emergency kit for your pet(s) and take both the kit and your pet(s) with you if you evacuate.  Your pet kit should include several days of food and water kept in airtight, waterproof containers, and a bowl, any medicines your pet takes on a regular basis, a first aid kit, a backup collar with ID tag and a harness or leash, a crate or carrier, grooming items, sanitation needs (litter box, trash bags, etc.) toys, treats, bedding, and a picture of you and your pet together, in case you get separated.  

Understand that many hotels do not allow pets inside (other than service animals), so, before a disaster or emergency happens, know which hotels are “pet-friendly.”  Also, know where else you can take your pet – prepare a list of family, friends, veterinarians, and boarding facilities that you could shelter your pet(s) at during an emergency.  

3. Build Your Disaster Kits

We previously discussed the importance of having a plan to evacuate, and having another plan to shelter-in-place.  Building well-supplied disaster kits and being prepared for either scenario is another practical step that can help you and your family stay safer and more comfortable during disasters.  

• To prepare for an evacuation, review our Evacuation Preparedness guide, and our Mobile Preparedness & Go-Bags guide.
• To prepare for sheltering-in-place, review our Family Disaster Supply Kit guide.

4. Maintain Your Plan

• Quiz: Review your plan every six months and quiz your family about what to do.
• Drill: Conduct fire and emergency evacuation drills on a regular basis with your family.
• Restock: Check food supplies for expiration dates and discard, or replace stored water and food every six months.
• Test: Read the indicator on your fire extinguisher(s) and follow the manufacturer’s instructions to recharge.  Test your smoke alarms monthly and change the batteries at least once a year.  Replace alarms every 10 years.  

Considerations For People With Disabilities

Those with disabilities or other special needs often have unique need that require more detailed planning in the event of a disaster.  Consider the following actions as you prepare:

• Create a support network of people who can help you in a disaster.  Keep a contact list in a watertight container in your emergency kit or on your electronic devices.
• Inform your support network where you keep your emergency supplies.  You may want to consider giving a trusted member a key to your house or apartment.
• Plan ahead for accessible transportation that you may need for evacuation or getting around during or after the disaster.
• If you are on dialysis or other life-sustaining medical treatment know the location and availability of more than one facility that can help you.
• If you are on oxygen, keep a backup supply of oxygen.
• If you use medical equipment in your home that requires electricity, talk to your doctor or health care provider about what you may be able to do to keep in running during a power outage.  You can also ask your power provider to put you on a list for priority power restoration.
• About half of all Americans take a prescription medicine every day.  An emergency can make it difficult for them to refill their prescription or to find an open pharmacy.  Organize and protect your prescriptions, over-the-counter drugs, and vitamins to prepare for an emergency.  Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about how you can create an emergency supply of medicines.  Keep a list of your prescribed medicines.  Include information about your diagnosis, dosage, frequency, medical supply needs and allergies.  Store extra nonprescription drugs, like pain and fever relievers, antihistamines and antidiarrheal medicines.  Have a cooler and chemical ice packs available to chill medicines that need to be refrigerated.
• Wear medical alert tags or bracelets.  Also add pertinent medical information to your electronic devices.
• Locate and access your electronic health records from a variety of sources by using the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

Tips For People With Speech Disabilities

• If you use an augmentative communications or other assistive technologies plan how you will evacuate with the devices or how you will replace equipment if it is lost or destroyed.  Keep model information and note where the equipment came from (Medicaid, Medicare, private insurance, etc.)
• Plan how you will communicate with others if your equipment is not working.  Put paper, pencils or pens and a written statement that describes how you can communicate and what you need during an emergency in your emergency supply kit.  Consider making laminated cards with phrases and/or pictures.
• Find batteries or other ways to make sure your communication aid can stay on for a long time in an emergency. 
• If other people cannot understand your speech, call 711 or 1-800-854-7784 to use a free, Speech-to-Speech Relay Service.
• Remember, in an emergency, you can text to 911 operators. 

Tips For People With Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities

• Practice what to do during and after an emergency.  Be sure to include your service animal in the practice, if you have one.  Practice leaving places you spend your time until you feel confident you will know what to do if there is an emergency.
• Write or draw your emergency plan on a piece of paper.  Keep it with you and at places you spend a lot of your time.  Make sure it is easy to read and understand.  Think about the things you will need to do after an emergency and how you can do them.
• Think about what a police officer of firefighter might need to know about you.  Be prepared to say it, or write it down on paper and keep it with you.  Here are some examples:
  • I talk to people in a different way.  I can point to pictures or keys words, which you can find in my wallet or emergency supply kit.
  • Please speak slowly and use simple words.
  • I may have a hard time understanding or remembering your instructions.  Please speak slowly or write them down for me.
• Purchase spare charges for electronic devices and keep them charges.  Load the devices with videos and other activities.
• Include sheets and twine or a small pop-up tent in your emergency supply kit, to decrease visual stimulation in a busy room or to provide instant privacy.
• Consider a pair of noise-canceling headphones to decrease auditory stimuli.
• Have comfort snacks available. 

Tips of People Who Are Deaf of Hard of Hearing

• Keep hearing aids in a place you can find them easily during an emergency.
• Keep extra hearing aid batteries in your emergency supply kit.
• Put different kinds of alarms in places you spend a lot of time at to help you see if an emergency is happening.
• Consider purchasing a weather radio with a text display and a flashing alert.
• Have a battery-operated lantern available to enable communication by sign language or lip reading, especially when the electricity is out and it’s dark.
• Think about how you will communicate with police officers and firefighters.  Have paper and pens or pencils with you.  Think about writing down things you may need to say on paper and keeping it with you.  For example: I use American Sign Language (ASL) and need an ASL interpreter.

Tips For People Who Are Blind or Have Low Vision

• Mark emergency supplies with Braille labels or large print.  Keep a list of your emergency supplies and where you bought them on a portable flash drive or make an audio file that is kept in a safe place where you can access it. 
• Keep communication devices for your particular needs, such as a Braille or deaf-blind communications device as part of your emergency supply kit.
• If you have some vision, consider installing security lighting in each room to help you safely move around. 
• Store high-powered flashlights with wide beams and extra batteries where you can find them easily.
• Make sure you have extra glasses or contact lenses.  You may need to have other things to help you see during an emergency.
• If you use a cane, keep extras at work, home, and at school to help you get around obstacles.  Keep a spare cane in your emergency supply kit.
• Keep a portable, battery-operated radio and extra batteries accessible. 

Tips For People With A Mobility Disability

• If you use a power wheelchair, have a lightweight manual chair available as a backup, if possible.
• Show others how to assemble, disassemble, and operate your wheelchair.
• Purchase an extra battery for a power wheelchair or other battery-operated medical or assistive technology devices.  If you can’t purchase an extra battery, find out what agencies, organizations or local charitable groups can help you buy one.  Keep extra batteries charged at all times.
• Consider keeping a patch kit or can of sealant for flat tires and/or extra inner tube if the wheelchair or scooter tires are not puncture proof.
• Keep an extra mobility device such as a cane or walker if you use one.
• Keep a portable air pump for wheelchair tires.
• If you use a seat cushion to protect your skin or maintain your balance and you must evacuate, consider keeping an extra cushion on hand.
• Communicate with neighbors who can assist you if you need to evacuate the building.
• Keep sturdy gloves in your emergency kit to protect your hands if you have to travel over snow, ice, glass, dirt, or trash.
• Identify the easiest escape route to get around.
• Make sure furniture will not get in your way if you need to get out of your house quickly.
• If you spend time in a building with an elevator and several floors, plan another way to get out of the building.  Practice using the stairs to escape if you can.
• If you can’t use your wheelchair or the stairs, learn how to tell people how to lift and carry you safely.

Tips For Individuals With Alzheimer’s And Related Dementia

• Do not leave the person alone.  Even those who aren’t prone to wandering away may do so in unfamiliar environments or situations.
• If evacuating, help manage the change in environment by bringing a pillow and blanket or other comforting items they can hold onto.
• When at a shelter, try to stay away from exits and choose a quiet corner.
• If there is an episode of agitation, respond to the emotions being expressed.  For example, say, “You’re frightened and want to go home.  It’s ok.  I’m right here with you.”

Additional links:

• California Office of Emergency Services - Office of Access and Functional Needs
• Individuals with Disabilities and Others with Access and Function Needs, Ready.gov

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