Emergency Readiness and Response: The Status of Area
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Transcript Emergency Readiness and Response: The Status of Area
Robert L. (Bob) McFalls, M.Div.
Chief Operating Officer
National Association of Area Agencies on Aging
AIRS Conference
May 24, 2010
Rochester, New York
Acknowledgments
Funding for this project provided through AoA grant
90AM3126 to n4a
Survey development, data collection, analysis and figure
development conducted by Scripps Gerontology Center
For further information:
Abigail Morgan, Program Manager, n4a
([email protected])
Robert McFalls, C.O.O., n4a ([email protected])
National Association of Area Agencies on Aging,
Washington, D.C.
http://www.n4a.org/pdf/Emergency2009Final.pdf
Plan for Today
Background
Survey of Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs)
Findings
Implications & Challenges for the Aging
Services Network
Older Adults and Emergencies
Disproportional death rates in Katrina (64% of deaths
age 65+)
Less likely to be willing to evacuate
Adults 55+ least personally prepared for disaster
High reliance on first responders
A third of those with a disability or caring for someone
with a disability would need extra help
Chronic conditions may be worsened in an emergency
Medications, medical care present challenges
How do we think about
disasters?
Disaster is “when routines…are seriously disrupted and
when unplanned courses of action have to be undertaken
to cope with the crisis” (Quarentelli, 2000).
“there is no such thing as a “natural” disaster. In every
phase and aspect of a disaster…the difference between
who lives and who dies is to a greater or lesser extent a
social calculus “(Smith, 2006).
Preparedness prevents emergencies from becoming
disasters.
AAA preparedness involves services to older adults and
preparedness as a business entity
Hazards/Disaster Catalysts
Dam Failure
Nuclear Power Plant
Earthquake
Emergency
Pandemic Influenza
Terrorism
Thunderstorm
Tornado
Tsunami
Volcano
Winter Storm
Fire or Wildfire
Flood
Hazardous Material
Heat
Hurricane
Landslide
States with Federal Major Disaster Declarations, 2008
One
Two
Three
Assessing Preparedness of
AAAs
Purpose-Developed Survey
n4a Advisory Council
AAA Directors
AoA Project Managers
AoA Office of Preparedness and Response
Focus on
What programs/policies/provisions they had in place
What elements were covered in their emergency plans
Perceptions about or experience with their plans
Needs for the future
AAA Survey
Internet Survey—May 2009
All 629 AAAs invited to participate via
e-mail
Survey in the field 3 weeks
58.6% response rate (N=369)
Findings—Plan Participation
Three-quarters are part of one emergency plan (local,
SUA, other statewide)
About 2/3 (64.5%) are part of a local plan
About 1/3 (33.9%) are part of an SUA plan
Only 7 out of 100 (7.3 %) did not have a plan
What does the plan include?
Challenges for Future Plans
Collaborations with nursing homes and
assisted living facilities (only about ¼ have
this)
Planning for pets (less than 20% have this)
Plans for obtaining essential back-up
supplies (over half, but not all have this)
Of 11 plan elements, average was 5
Communications in a Disaster
Important Locations
Business Practices
Maintaining Services
Maintaining Services (cont.)
Experience with Disasters
About one-quarter (90 AAAs) had been part
of federally declared disaster
How well did their systems work?
Only 3 out of 90 rated their plans as “least
effective”
Over half said their plans were
“effective”(52.4%)
Only 2 said their plans were “most effective”
Confidence Among those with No
Recent Experience
How confident are you about your
organization’s capacity to respond? (n=366)
Over 1 in 10 (11.5%) were not at all confident
Over half (53%) were somewhat confident
Over 1/3 were confident (28.1%) or very
confident (7.4%)
Challenges for the Future
AAAs would like training/technical assistance in
the following:
Process for obtaining immediate $$ to respond
Best practices for different types of disasters
Establishing external communication systems
Establishing roles and responsibilities with their
partners and other local organizations
Processes for tracking disaster-related expenses
Strengths of AAA Preparedness
Highly involved in planning
Multiple components to their plans
Almost all (only 8 do not) review their plans
at least yearly
Survey process had an educational element
Questions?
Abigail Morgan, [email protected]
Robert McFalls, [email protected]
www.n4a.org/programs/annual-survey
www.scrippsaging.org