263873 Planning for and using PAS in emergencies: What do experienced people with disabilities do?

Wednesday, October 31, 2012 : 1:11 PM - 1:29 PM

Lewis Kraus, MPH, MCP , Center on Disability at the Public Health Institute, Oakland, CA
While preparedness for an emergency is important and challenging for anyone, planning can be especially challenging for those who need personal assistance services (PAS) to live independently. This session will present the results of an online survey and follow-up interviews with individuals who have real world experience with living through an emergency or disaster that required them to either evacuate or shelter in place. We will review the survey responses from 253 individuals who provided experiences and approaches to planning for PAS in an emergency on topics such as: type of emergency or disaster they experienced, where did they go in the emergency (evacuated or sheltered in place), how did they receive PAS during the emergency, use of an emergency plan, inclusion of personal assistants in emergency plans, how did the emergency plan work during the emergency, did they change their plan after the emergency experience, and advice for others.

Learning Areas:
Program planning
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
1. Explain the importance of PAS inclusion in individual emergency planning 2. Compare real-world experiences documented by an online survey and follow up interviews of those needing PAS who have lived through large scale disasters.

Keywords: Disability, Disasters

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the Principal Investigator for this research into emergency preparedness for people with disabilities who use personal assistance services for the past 3 years and have conducted disability research for 24 years.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 5170.0: Community services related to the health, employment and living of persons with disabilities