Disaster Planning

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Mary Trabert

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Sep 4, 2005, 10:44:56 AM9/4/05

to Portable Caregiver Group

Disaster Planning

I remember talking with my 90+ year-old grandmother by phone during her last mid-winter power outage. Despite the falling temperatures she was determined not to leave her home. She didn’t want to “impose” on my parents who were more than ready to take her in. She was “heating” her downstairs with her gas oven (!) and was ready to bundle up with extra blankets to sleep that evening. After giving up on convincing her to go with my parents, I told her she’d better wear a warm hat to bed. “A hat?” she asked. “Yes, Gram, you lose most of your body heat through your head.” “ No kidding,” she replied. (Yes, all of those years with the Girl Scouts taught me valuable life skills.)

Older bodies are much more susceptible to hypo- and hyperthermia (being dangerously under or over heated). Thus, frail older bodies are much more at risk in times of disaster. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina I’ve been thinking more about what we as family members can do to ensure the health and safety of our elders in times of natural disaster.

The Full Circle of Care website has a series of wonderfully instructive short pieces on assessing your family member’s specific needs, putting in place a plan to address those needs in the event of a natural disaster, how to find special needs shelters and what to do to place your loved one’s information on special needs registries. While some of this site is NC-specific, most of it is applicable nationally.

To access these valuable instructions visit http://www.fullcirclecare.org/caregiverissues/disaster/disaster.htm

To access useful needs checklists visit http://www.fullcirclecare.org/caregiverissues/checklists/checklists.htm

Linking you with helpful caregiving resources and wishing you a safe, and healthy week.

Mary Trabert
Co-author, The Portable Caregiver: 8 Essential Guidebooks for Elder Care

***************** Coming soon ********************

We will soon have available a peaceful, soothing Meditation CD for Caregivers. Listen to the comforting voice of Sarah Arnett as she leads you through a series of relaxation exercises including a refreshing 10-bead meditation created especially for caregivers. With each Meditation CD you will receive a beautiful hand-made strand of caregiver meditation beads. More information to come….