Recent News & Views
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| Are Your Ready for Earl? |
August 16, 2010 |
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| Greetings!
Hurricane Earl is threatening the coastal regions of New England, including Cape Cod, the South Coast and south eastern Massachusetts to Portland, Maine and beyond.
Are you ready? Experience has taught us all that we need to be prepared. We need to make sure that personal care attendants, caregivers and family members have taken steps to prepare themselves and their families as well as helping you prepare yourself.
(See our letter to state officials, below this block).
Do you have food and water available? Do you have fresh Batteries, a portable radio and a flashlight on hand? (Please, no candles).
Do you have an alternative power source if you are dependent upon electricity? Does someone else who can help know this too?
Have your considered how you'd evacuate if you live near the coast or another area that might be flooded?
If you live in a high rise or multi-family dwelling, does the management agency have a plan for evacuating or helping people "shelter in place"? These are questions you should ask them TODAY!
We have recently learned the lesson again that the public authorities remain insensitive to the needs of people with disabilities. This was proven in May with the boil water order from the Massachusetts Water Resource Agency and again in August with spraying for mosquitoes carrying EEE.
The DPC's Personal Emergency Preparedness Plan and a power point presentation prepared by the town of Brookline are available under "Hot News" on the Home Page of our web site, www.dpcma.org.
Be prepared! Get ready!
Bill Allan
Executive Director, Disability Policy Consortium
wfallan@dpcma.org| 617-542-3522
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Letter to State Officials 09/02/2010
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This email is to remind you all of the Public responsibility you all share for the safety of thousand of citizens of the Commonwealth which includes people and elders with many different disabilities and needs, as well as capabilities.
Will televised emergency announcements made by public officials be accompanied by a person fluent in American Sign Language as well as with open captioning?
Will informal networks to reach Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals through text and social networks, the OneList, etc., be activated?
Do transportation plans for an evacuation include enough wheel chair transport vehicles to satisfy the need in any given locale?
Are the shelters that are likely to be activated accessible? Are they prepared for service animals? Are they prepared for personal care staff and other care givers?
Will shelters accept people with disabilities who are on medications some of which may be on a controlled substance list?
Will counseling be available to those in need?
Have provisions been made through pharmaceutical supply chains to make prescription medications available to people in need even if they do not have an active prescription with them?
These are only a few of the question that run through my mind as I think ahead. I know it is late in the process, but I've attached a copy of the the Task Force Rep ort on "Emergency Preparedness and People Needing Additonal Assistance". This document was produced in 2008 and represents hundreds of hours contributed by civilians and state officials. Perhaps someone in your agency could look at it today to make sure that Massachusetts is 100% ready!
The DPC's expectation, of course, is that the answer to all of these questions and the ones referred to in the Task Force Report is "YES".
Bill Allan
Executive Director
wfallan@dpcma.org
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DPC Needs your Help!!!
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The DPC uses the PayPal PayFast system for your tax deductible charitable donations. You do not need to have a PayPal account to use this system because credit card payments are also accepted.
The DPC also uses the Causes program for recurring donations (as well as one time donations). This is a great way to make a smaller monthly donation.
Donate by Mail
Make check or money order payable to:
Disability Policy Consortium
59 Temple Place, Suite 669
Boston, MA 02111
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