Emergency Preparedness for Special Needs Populations

Emergency Preparedness for Special Needs Populations

              ‘Access and functional needs’ individuals refer to people who require help because of any conditions that hinder their capacity to act like rational human beings. Many people in the entire community have access and functional needs in case of an emergency. Studies show that about 50 percent of individuals who seek help in disaster recovery shelters have some form of disability or access and functional need (Mace et al., 2018). Misunderstandings regarding their needs can impede or prevent the allocation of the help needed.

In general, the provision for people with physical disability does not match their needs due to various problem areas. These problems are related to worker and management failures and key weaknesses within disaster management shelters as a unit. One of these problems is perspectives towards disability and ill-advised suppositions regarding the capabilities of people with disabilities and their associations to contain and counter to calamities (Twigg et al., 2011). Shelters for people with physical disabilities should be designed such they are accessible to allow for natural movements. These individuals should also be seen as vulnerable people who need help in doing simple things, especially those that mobility and sometimes speech. These individuals should be assisted accordingly to cope and survive.

During most disasters, there is a need for authorities to provide shelter for displaced individuals who have problems with their residences. Most of the people have medical requirements that necessitate handling with some level of medical care to manage their health. One shelter issue would be the unavailability of enough space to cater for all people with medical needs during catastrophes and reduce the requirement for hospitalization (Veenema et al., 2015).  Medical shelters should increase their capacity to accommodate individuals, hence reducing surges at the already overwhelmed healthcare facilities. People with supervision needs include those with mental conditions and in need of monitoring at all times to ensure that they are safe from danger (Nappi & Souza, 2015). One management issue in shelters for such individuals is the lack of adequate monitoring systems to make supervision easier. This can be solved by putting in place all the necessary supervision measures to ensure proper tracking of all people in the shelter. The failure to meet the needs of people with a physical disability, medical, and supervision needs can attract legal action against the shelters involved. Such accommodations can be sued for negligence or incapacity to handle access and functional needs populations.

References

Mace, S. E., Doyle, C. J., Askew, K., Bradin, S., Baker, M., Joseph, M. M., & Sorrentino, A. (2018). Planning considerations for persons with access and functional needs in a disaster-Part 2: Evacuation and sheltering. American journal of disaster medicine, 13(3), 195-206.

Nappi, M. M. L., & Souza, J. C. (2015). Disaster management: hierarchical structuring criteria for selection and location of temporary shelters. Natural Hazards, 75(3), 2421-2436.

Twigg, J., Kett, M., Bottomley, H., Tan, L. T., & Nasreddin, H. (2011). Disability and public shelter in emergencies. Environmental Hazards, 10(3-4), 248-261.

Veenema, T. G., Rains, A. B., Casey-Lockyer, M., Springer, J., & Kowal, M. (2015). Quality of healthcare services provided in disaster shelters: An integrative literature review. International emergency nursing, 23(3), 225-231.