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In the Face of Disaster - Considerations for Older Adults · Talking FACS

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Welcome to Talking Facts.
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What you need to know about family food finance and fitness.
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This nationally recognized award winning podcast is hosted by the University of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program.
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Our educators share research knowledge with individuals,
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families and communities to improve quality of life.
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Hello and welcome to Talking Facts.
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What you need to know about family food finance and fitness.
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I'm your host,
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Mindy mccauley Family Consumer Sciences Extension Specialist for instructional support at the University of Kentucky because disaster can strike at a moment's notice.
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It is important to have a plan and know in advance what to do in case of an emergency.
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Family and Consumer Sciences Extension has put together a new series in the face of disaster.
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And Dr Amy Castelli,
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associate extension professor for adult development and aging is here today to briefly discuss why it is particularly important for older adults to plan ahead.
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Welcome Amy.
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Hi,
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Mindy.
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Thanks for having me today to talk about this important topic.
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Start with saying that the American Psychological Association gave some interesting stats they talked about when compared to younger adults,
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older adults are more vulnerable and less prepared when natural disaster strikes.
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And so a challenge,
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I think that vulnerable older adults and also people with disabilities face,
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especially when staring down natural disaster is that their needs don't go away in the state of emergency.
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Oh,
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yes,
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of course.
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So for older adults who live at home or rely on informal care,
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they may not be able to relocate or move out of dangerous way without assistance and they may not be able to survive and recover post disaster without assistance.
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So they might need help with daily care,
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mobility,
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transportation,
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medication,
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even supervision in cases of dementia.
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So in addition to accessibility,
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it is important to think about need and access to medication and medical and mobility equipment.
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That's exactly right.
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And so especially after a disaster,
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it's important to consider the risk of conditions.
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You know,
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you're gonna have things like a lack of safe water,
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food,
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extreme temperatures,
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stress exposure to infection.
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I don't know things like lack of shelter,
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missing medication,
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missing mobility devices,
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missing medical equipment and so forth.
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So really when you're considering all of the above,
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you know,
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the pre and the post disaster,
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older adults,
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people with disabilities have the highest rate of disaster related deaths and they're at higher risk during all phases of a disaster.
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So that's from life threatening challenges during the evacuation part to these adverse psychological consequences and even physical consequence associated with the recovery.
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But in saying this and especially in regards to older adults,
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I want to make sure I emphasize that advanced age is not what makes a person vulnerable.
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It's really the risk factors that accompany advanced age or that can accompany advanced age that make people vulnerable.
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So those are going to be the things like chronic illness,
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medication or medical equipment needs,
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mobility issues,
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functional limitation,
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dementia,
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things like that.
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That's what ends up making people,
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you know,
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these kind of special needs populations more vulnerable during and after natural disaster.
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Yes.
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So even I could have the same challenges if I had had those issues as well.
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Exactly.
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In addition to all of these other challenges,
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many of our older adults also don't have access to transportation and they might have um social and economic constraints that also interfere with their ability to prepare or even evacuate.
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Yeah,
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I mean,
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it's really,
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there's such a gamut of,
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of issues that we may not think about.
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You know,
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some older adults may feel more vulnerable,
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more easily overwhelmed.
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They may even have more trouble hearing,
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accessing or understanding information or recommendations regarding safety and evacuation in their community.
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And then you've got others who don't want to believe that anything is going to happen to them or they refuse or they feel reluctant to leave their home.
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Uh They don't want to leave their possessions behind.
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They would rather wait it out,
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wait out the danger and the familiarity and the perceived security of their home.
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I have a sister who lives in Florida and she has shared with me that every time a hurricane hit and it doesn't end up being catastrophic.
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She said it's always kind of hurtful because it's one more reminder that it's not gonna happen to me and the very next one could happen to them.
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And I think people living through Ian right now are certainly experiencing that.
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Sure.
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And you mentioned people not wanting to leave their possessions and so many people have pets that they are concerned about leaving.
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I think that that's a real challenge too.
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Oh,
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for sure.
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And we'll talk about pets here.
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I think a bit when we look at the list and I want to say to you that,
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you know,
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time has proven,
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you know,
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even when someone has the experience of living through a natural disaster,
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if you want to call it,
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that experience,
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time has proven that the danger and a lack of planning or even ignoring evacuation recommendations is,
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is just deadly.
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Numbers are not available yet for Ian and I keep referencing Ian because that's our latest natural disaster.
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But the A A R P reported that more than 70% of those who died during hurricane Katrina were older adults who refused to evacuate.
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So I think that's just a good reminder that it can happen to,
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to us and you need to prepare.
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Yeah.
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And that's just scary because disasters seem to be more frequent these days and we are constantly hearing about reports on the news from wildfires,
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blizzards,
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heat waves,
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tornadoes,
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flooding and now the latest hurrican pains and power outages.
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So we have to also consider what happens during shootings,
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bombs and terrorist attacks.
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What can older adults and their families do to prepare or to recover from these events?
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Yep.
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So the CDC encourages older adults living at home and also their families if possible to plan ahead for emergencies.
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They remind older adults and people with disabilities that it may take time for responders to organize and even reach victims.
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And so they,
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they recommend and it's the CDC,
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it's the A R P,
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it's the Red Cross.
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It's,
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and there's so many different resources,
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you know,
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and,
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and,
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and places to provide recommendations.
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They all agree that they all agree and that is what's important.
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Yeah,
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you've got to stop basic supplies like the non perishable food,
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water,
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medicine,
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flashlights,
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batteries,
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radios,
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first aid kits and such.
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But again,
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a lot of it is about planning ahead and that's hard to do.
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I mean,
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I don't do it and I should do it,
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you know.
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Um,
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but it's sometimes they get,
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takes disasters like this to remind us that this is something we need to do and that goes all the way down to from just making sure your house has gas and batteries and flashlights and such.
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I mean,
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those are things we should,
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we should always be doing on a regular basis.
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So the CDC really,
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I'm gonna keep referencing the CDC here for a second,
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but they really recommend creating an emergency plan.
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And so one of the things that you just talked about mindy with the different types of,
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of,
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you know,
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disasters that we seem to be hearing about is the,
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you know,
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whether it's a wildfire or a blizzard or a heat wave or a tornado is educating yourself about potential threats in your area.
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So,
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you know,
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my mom lives in Minnesota.
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She probably doesn't need to worry as much about a hurricane as she might have to about a blizzard or a nice storm power outages,
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how to stay warm in her house and so forth.
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So I think that's a really important piece of advice is that older adults,
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their families,
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people with disabilities,
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they need to learn about what kinds of disasters and the risks that might be typical in the area where you live so that you can plan accordingly.
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And then it's about knowing your resources.
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You know,
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how are you going to find out when a natural disaster is predicted?
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And we're talking about disasters where there is some prediction,
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right?
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Some of the other things like you said,
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and I think that's important too,
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a shooting a terrorist attack,
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right?
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We didn't have prediction on those things.
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And so,
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you know,
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again,
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that's why if we plan ahead,
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if something like that were to happen,
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you're not caught without knowing what to do at all or without being prepared.
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So it's knowing those resources,
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you know,
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how do you find out information?
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Is it through a radio or television,
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a weather station?
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What is your community's plan for evacuation or for taking shelter?
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Are there designated shelter areas near you or where are the closest designated shelter areas if you need medical care of some kind?
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Are there specific shelters where you can go for medical,
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you know,
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care or,
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or a,
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a higher level of care?
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So,
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the more familiar you are with those things,
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the better action you're gonna be able to take another piece of advice that the CDC recommends is planning and practicing your escape route at least two times a year.
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And so again that it do we do that,
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I'm not sure how many people do that,
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but it really is important because we forget how many fire drills have we had since elementary school.
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Right.
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Exactly.
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And,
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and you knew exactly what to do in elementary school.
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So it seems kind of silly,
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doesn't it,
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that we really don't do that in our own homes?
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Yeah.
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It was drilled in us as Children to,
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to do that.
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And even before fire drills,
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people were,
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you know,
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my mom would tell stories about going under her desk and,
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um,
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during bomb warnings and such.
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And we did,
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I went to elementary school in western Kentucky and we did tornado drills.
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We had tornado drills.
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I had those as well.
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So,
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you know,
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things like when you plan your escape route and talking through that,
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especially if you've got family,
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friends and resources around.
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You know,
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if,
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if you can't drive,
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for example,
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is there a plan that you have with a family member or a neighbor or someone that can get you out of that house?
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Like Mindy said earlier too,
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if you've got a pet,
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what's your plan in advance with a pet?
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If it's not a service animal,
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a lot of shelters aren't going to take an animal due to noise concerns,
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health,
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you know,
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safety concerns with animals and shelters.
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So again,
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it's better to evacuate early versus later,
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especially if you've got some level of frailty disability,
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illness.
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And that way you can get ahead of the rain,
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the flooded roads,
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debris and you know,
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things like that,
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they also recommend making a communication plan.
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And so just a couple of things I'll highlight on that is I think you in a communication plan,
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it's important that you have contacts with,
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again,
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friends,
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family,
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neighbors.
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You designate a key person to whom your intended whereabouts and well are reported during the disaster.
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And you must remember to notify your contact person if you leave or if you deviate from that plan.
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And I think that's,
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you know,
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key because you're gonna be,
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you know,
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your adrenaline is going,
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the stress is going and you know,
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you may be in panic mode.
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But if you have a plan and someone is counting on you to be somewhere or they know where to find you.
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If you've left,
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it's important to be able to tell them if,
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if,
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if possible and then what we always hear about is making and maintaining an emergency kit and in that kit you're gonna have things like a three day supply of non perishable food if possible three day supply of water,
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they recommend at least one gallon of water per day per person.
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You know.
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Um I've got family in Florida right now and some of the things that they're talking about that are important is a pot for boiling water.
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We still have one family who's still boiling water.
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You know,
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then there's things like CDC will recommend your medication and also writing down and having in a waterproof bag of some sort,
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you know,
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important documents and we'll talk about that here in a second too.
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But with medication,
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I want to say that it's important that you have your prescriptions,
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the pharmacy,
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phone numbers,
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dosages,
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things like that that you may not think about in cases have to be replaced.
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Of course,
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I've said batteries a couple of times,
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flashlights,
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first aid kits,
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even sanitation hygiene items.
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That might not sound like a big deal now,
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but it may be in,
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in at the time.
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Um and even things like dry shampoo.
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Um we sending down to Florida just because people have not been able to take,
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you know,
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baths and showers.
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So again,
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and the resources that will post along with this podcast,
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there's a list of things that they recommend putting into some sort of emergency kit.
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I know some of our folks here in extension have recommended putting things in a backpack so that you can stick it on your back in case it's difficult for you to carry out a tub or a bucket of some sort.
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But again,
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it's really important to remember where you put this stuff and to maintain it so that your items are in good shape when you actually need it.
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So it's recommended that you revisit the kit at least one time a year and update your supplies and change out supplies as needed according to the CDC,
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if an emergency does occur,
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being prepared,
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can save valuable time and possibly so we are excited that we have resources available for our listeners.
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So it is important for family and friends and community members to develop a plan.
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Should a natural disaster occur?
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The Federal Emergency Management Agency reports being prepared can reduce fear,
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anxiety and losses that accompany disasters.
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We are so excited that you took the time to share with us today,
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Dr Cali and I know that the resources that we have can be a great resource for our listeners as well.
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Yeah,
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we will post those resources and I'm I'm happy that extension can get that information out there and I think the more that people talk about it indeed,
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the more familiar we can get with what needs to be done in,
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in cases of emergency like that.
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