[00:00:06] Speaker A: Life or death.
In the realm of emergencies, the stakes can be nothing less than life or death.
The outcome of such critical situations often hinge on how well individuals are prepared to handle them.
Today, we delve into the lives of those who matter most to us, exploring real life stories that highlight severe environmental threats.
These scenarios encompass a range of issues, from weather related dangers to other pressing concerns where decisions could mean the difference between life and death, as well as the potential need for evacuation.
Today's conversation focuses on the populations that are often forgotten or those that face even greater challenges during disasters.
Older adults, elderly, individuals with disabilities, people with special medical needs, veterans, household pets.
See, preparedness for these groups require additional planning, but the good news is that much of it can be done before an emergency occurs.
So come join me. Grab a seat here at the table, settle in for your favorite beverage, and let's have a conversation about all this.
Stick around until the end and I'll let you enter a giveaway for a prize related to today's episode.
More information to come. Cue the music.
[00:02:13] Speaker B: From the natural state. This is public facing the podcast with jo holman.
[00:02:23] Speaker A: Welcome to this special edition episode of Public Facing the Podcast. I'm Joe Holman.
Let's talk about the list that I just shared and let's talk about why these groups face a greater risk.
Well, the discussion must include at least the mobility limitations, those that walk on canes, crutches, walkers, wheelchairs, and the medical dependence.
You know, oftentimes there is a situation where even those that are in the hospital, if a situation arises where they need to evacuate the particular health provider they're at, well, in doing so, it needs to be where they go to another facility that are able to handle that patient's needs. Well, what happens when there's an evacuation in process and there's nowhere that can support the health of that patient.
So these are things to consider.
And while we're there, let's talk about transportation barriers.
As a former, you know, driver for a medical transportation company, sometimes we would end up sending a vehicle that didn't wasn't suitable for that particular patient.
An example would be if they are short or, and, and if they can't on their own get into a vehicle such as a tall van, then that's the point where in retrospect, it would have been better for us to send a vehicle like a car to get that person even with their pulled up walker than it would be to force them to attempt to try to get into a taller van. Now, what about those that have power Wheelchairs. Well, those power wheelchairs require a certain amount of space.
They connect differently in many regards than what a manual wheelchair is because they're not built the same. That's why there's, those are two different classes.
any rate, you know the needs of the person who requires a wheelchair van.
It's important that we're sending the right vehicle. Then what happens? In time of a disaster, there may not be a wheelchair van available right off.
And even if there is a situation, well, if that person has to leave from their dwelling and head out of the area, they may have to ride their power wheelchair or away from home.
What happens when that battery runs out?
Now they put, they're put in a position where it may be difficult for them to continue on because of the situation. A lot of these are, are what if scenarios, but a lot of these are hitting the mark and they're, you know, the reason they're even on here is because they are a prevalent situation.
So after transportation barriers, there's communication challenges. Now oftentimes with the communication challenge, we're talking about maybe say a cell phone or maybe computer connection in order to communicate.
These are unique situations because how do you communicate when the Internet goes away?
How do you communicate when disaster strikes and you can't even, you can't even get a, the ability to get a phone call through locally.
Remember, when it comes to local disasters, chances are at that time, even if the cell towers are over loaded, you may have better luck getting a phone call through if you contact a contact person outside of the area or in another state or something like that to pass on the message of what's going on. Because you may not be able to get a local line out, but you may be able to put through a long distance phone call, text. Also if, course if cell, if cell towers are down, that's probably out of reach. But it does take less even battery wise, just so there's this, that it takes less of a load on the, on the phone to transmit a text than it does to make a full blown telephone call.
So, and obviously video would, would make that even more and more difficult.
So what about social isolation?
What about those that, that are in a way sort of recluse?
We're in the year 2026 and for six years there are some people I know even that haven't ventured far outside the house.
Like maybe they've gone to the corner store and grabbed some groceries or something like that.
But overall they've not been out of the house or communicated in other ways. With say their neighbor or anything like that. In that time, the pandemic was a situation and that's where people in many ways became recluse.
And now the only hope is that they are able to come out of their shell and to associate socially.
Well, let's say power dependent medical equipment. Now you're talking about, you might be talking about an oxygen concentrator, you might be talking about suction machines or just a variety of different possibilities.
Some people dialyze at the house, they take dialysis, a home dialysis machine.
Now it's important too for those people out there who depend on their caregivers.
They may have one or two shifts of people come, maybe it's every day, maybe it's a couple days a week, but we don't know when disaster strikes. So what do we do when the people who are dependent on their caregivers find themselves in a, maybe they find themselves in a disaster with no, no caregiver on site at that time. Well, now that person essentially is fending for themselves.
So these are all aspects as to why these groups that they, they face greater risk.
Remember, preparedness begins really by identifying vulnerabilities but before they become emergencies. Because you can never be not prepared enough, I guess, in that regard. So it's really important that you have a plan and that you practice that plan.
Public Facing the podcast in order to test your level of preparedness when you look at the number of disasters in the U.S.
well, chances are every area will deal with some kind of emergency in the next decade.
And between school and sports and social lives, well, chances are you won't be with your kids when it happens.
So once they know what to do, ready.govkids has the educational tools and information to make the conversation easy when the time comes.
And chances are they'll feel prepared and not scared.
So talk with your family today.
For more information, visit ready.govkids so now let's speak specifically on senior preparedness.
Now with seniors, we have to keep in mind that often times, maybe not all the time, but oftentimes they are on medication.
So it's important to keep a document that backs up what your medications are, what the dosage is, what the frequency is, the name of the provider that writes that for you, And then also you'll keep that with any other important documents and make sure you have that handy when the time comes. It's not a matter of if, but a matter of when the time comes that you're going to be eyeball to eyeball with a some form of a disaster, maybe some form of a severe weather event.
So also keep a list of contacts, these emergency contacts, we should be able to connect locally. But again, what if the phone lines down locally and you can't get anything through, but you're able to call your uncle in a whole nother state?
So that's really a, that's really the situation of kind of work doing the workaround for an iffy communication situation otherwise. So, and backup caregiver.
Backup caregivers.
Think about that. You have your, your assigned caregivers or caregiver either.
But what happens when they can't come? What happens? Maybe, maybe they are ill, they can't come, or maybe due to the disaster, you find that they're not able to get to you. What then?
So it's important that we have a list of our primaries and our secondaries and from there, you know, any other backups as far as our caregivers go and home safety.
Now, home safety can mean a lot of things when we, we can talk about, you know, making sure, like your, your flooring is level, it doesn't have areas where you might trip on it or something from a raised part of the carpet or whatever.
Now that's one thing. We make sure that the windows aren't broken and we make sure that doors aren't off the hinges. We make sure that the, the, you know, we don't have damage that would compromise your position in the course of a, in a disaster.
So.
And on top of the home safety, because we, I basically covered the floor, the, the windows and the doors. But what about the bathroom?
Yeah, what about the flooring in the bathroom?
What about the commode or the shower? Do you have a shower chair in there? Do you have a raised toilet seat? Would that, was that something that would benefit you?
Oftentimes you'll find that with your insurance company, as far as the seniors go, that when you connect with your Medicare Advantage or that sort of thing, that they may give you a fall prevention allowance. And if you had that fall prevention allowance, that can buy you things like a wedge that would raise your head up a little in bed or shower handles or a shower head.
What else did they have? Oh, you could get a scale, I think that was on there.
Yeah.
So that sort of thing, it's just something to keep an eye out for because that, that can certainly put you in danger if you don't have a, a way to keep yourself safe.
I mean, that's obviously a slippery slope, no pun intended, in the shower. So what about Emergency transportation.
Now, this isn't necessarily just about calling an ambulance or whatever. Maybe you have a person on your list that lives in your neighborhood, like, you know, fairly close, that could potentially get to you and carry you to the hospital quicker than the ambulance get to you.
These are distinct opportunities to at least evaluate those and see if any of these areas are showing weakness. And if so, do what you must to build that up.
Now, one of the simplest preparations really is keeping medication lists updated and accessible.
So make sure that in your kit that you go ahead and place a weatherproof envelope in there that would hold your important documents like passports and Social Security cards, medicare cards, birth certificates, death certificates even.
There's a whole lot there right now when it comes to folks with disabilities and that are special needs.
In planning for these individuals, it's imperative that you take into account their mobility equipment. Like I said, a motorized wheelchair is set differently than what a standard manual wheelchair is, that sort of thing.
As far as their, their mobility equipment, do they have backup batteries just in case?
What if that person with disabilities special needs that they had a service animal? Now we've got a plan not just for that individual.
No, now we have to plan for the service animal as well. So again, it's important at that point that we have access to identification tag, the collar, the leash, the crate or carrier, also their medication, even heartworm medication, let's say, or sometimes I've heard of folks say that their dog, or generally their dog, I think, but their dog experiences seizures so they have to give that, that guy a medication daily.
So these are a lot of, there's a lot of what ifs, but the only reason these what ifs are here and they make it into my scenarios is simply because they've happened so often and people were often unprepared.
What about accessible shelters?
Well, let's say they're evacuating your area and you're supposed to go to a community center, let's say, and it's located as such and such a place, and you get there. But for whatever reason this particular building has not been maintained and, and into ADA compliant.
So now you can't get in with your chair. And even if you could get in with your chair, if you didn't have a crate or a carrier, at least for your dog, now they won't let your, your, your, either your service animal or your household pet to stay at that facility. So these are the things that I think about.
What about communication plans? I know we talked about this earlier, but again, it's A matter of doing whatever we need to to be able to get a message through.
Now some folks, I can say specifically with T mobile and certain models of phone, they're able to have satellite access.
So that is a possible option to where they're able to get a message back and forth.
And again you could try calling to a relative outside the area and if you get a hold of them, they may be able to relay to the other family members, let's say, because those other people should be checking in with that same contact person.
So sensory needs.
Now these are tricky too because some people don't do well with noise, some people don't do well with too much light.
Heck, some people don't even do so good with socializing being integrated into a position where they're around other people sometimes that, that also needs to, you know, they need to take care of those needs as well.
Now as far as all of these items here, this is a discussion individualized planning.
Individual.
No two situations are identical.
It's not one size fits all.
Accessible transportation is critical for the safety and the recovery of people with disabilities and over adults and those with functional needs during disasters. Yet these populations face disproportionate barriers including a lack of vehicles, inaccessible public transit and a damaged infrastructure.
So effective planning requires proactive integration of these groups into the evacuation strategies.
This will ensure that specialized vehicles like wheelchair accessible buses or vans and the trained drivers to get them going that they're available rather than relying on a last minute solution that often fails due to capacity limits and resource shortages.
Now key challenges with this include, you know, spatial and inaccessibility. Think about it like this.
Closed roads, distant shelters, physiological needs such as transporting medical equipment or service animals and things like economic inequities like the high costs for ride shares or taxis.
So to mitigate these risks, the emergency management really should be in a position to partner with what some might call a paratransit services. It's kind of a cross between medical and non medical transportation which will also have pre positioned fuel and they'll establish the, you know, the boarding for the vulnerable individuals and end up developing different disaster registries.
But I should note that there are limitations to that with the, with the, the registries. My experience with that is that they, they take a bit to catch up. So even if they've got your name on the, they've taken down your name and your information, it may be a while before that actually shows up on a piece of paper on a bulletin board at the shelter or whatever.
So anyway Noting that those limitations just to identify those who need assistance.
Right. So best practices for the inclusive disaster transportation.
This could be coordinating with disability and aging organizations like the Also I'm sorry to design realistic evacuation plans because not everybody's going to go the same way.
They're the.
You may have one shelter that, that can accept wheelchairs and or service animals and you can have another that is not equipped. So no wheelchair getting in there? No, yeah, not that sort of thing.
But you could provide accessible communication, you know, things like Braille, American sign language, simple language about transit options and routes which can ensure that shelters and transport are fully ADA compliant. That's the goal.
There are still some slackers in that regard and this would include space for things like your service animal and your medical devices.
And the way that this happens is they also try to leverage corporate resources.
Things like different companies that own their own buses or they have their own private jets or that sort of thing. And they could subsidize the ride share service for the low income evacuees.
Now when it comes to veterans and their preparedness, it's important that we look at one key detail first.
The veterans need access to the VA health care system and that coordination they need assistance with the prescription continuity, mental health support.
That also can and often does include a service animal community network.
Where are they in the community and who are they tied with? Already utilize that network to help, to see about helping with the needs of this particular vet.
Family planning, that's another thing. You know, family planning.
Look, there may be some places that would be willing to take the vet, but then they want to try to split up the family where women and children go to one and the men go to another and that sort of thing.
It's important that you look into that because often underappreciated and overlooked, these veterans often become valuable preparedness leaders in their communities.
They know what it means for teamwork, they know what it means for organization.
These types of things, their experience, it matters.
It matters. And their planning matters even more.
So what about pet preparedness? I know I've touched on this a bunch, but making sure they have food and water and their updated veterinary records are they microchipped their medications again. They some take medicine for ongoing health problems.
So make sure they have carriers and leashes at least.
And I want to share an important note here. I can't believe I feel like I have to do this, but I'm just gonna do it.
Never leave animals behind during evacuations.
It's true that veterinarians, they Play a critical role in pre disaster planning.
Plus with the immediate response and long term recovery that takes place during disasters and ongoing.
They provide medical care for companion animals and for livestock and wildlife and including triage.
That's where they, they take care of them.
You know, maybe they've, maybe they've been injured some kind of way in the, in you could, you could take that.
They provide medical care for companion animals, livestock and wildlife, including triage, first aid, vaccinations and euthanasia if required for suffering animals in the shelters or in the field.
As far as search and rescue goes, locating and rescuing trapped pets and providing initial stabilization.
How about shelter management? This is where they operate emergency animal shelters, scan for the microchips, maintaining the records and preventing disease outbreaks.
Well, what about public health?
Well, they also help control disease vectors and inspecting food supplies and managing zoonotic disease risks.
In other words, these are the risk for.
What the animal already carries from naturally and if they've been exposed to something, well, these veterinarians, they help control the disease aspect of it, making sure that they're not eating bad food, et cetera.
How about human support?
See, they assist with human health by providing food safety oversight and in mass casualty events, potentially delivering limited medical care to humans if physician resources are overwhelmed.
There are organizations out there like the National Veterinary Response Team, Texas A and M's Veterinary Emergency Team, and the American Veterinary Medical association abma.
And these all coordinate efforts. They provide the resources, training and disaster aid grants to affected practitioners in the disaster area.
So your pets, your service animals and your livestock, they rely on you for everything.
Please don't abandon them.
Play ready kids.
We're having a giveaway. You can enter to win.
It's one NOAA weather radio with same localized programming. So weather radio weather.
We're doing a giveaway. It's you can enter to win a NOAA weather radio with same localized programming.
It's a weather alert radio with more than 80 emergency alerts including an alarm clock.
No weather radio with with battery backup plus an external warning light for emergency notifications.
This helps out with folks that are hearing impaired. They're able to get a visual reminder as well.
So in order to enter submit by sending me an email at hello at public facing pod stream.
That's hello at public facing Pod dot stream.
The drawing is going to be made on July 5, 2026 winner to be notified for prize delivery and announced on an upcoming episode. Your information is never bought or sold.
So we can go now on to talk a little bit about the Caregiver planning, family support networks are probably the best.
But also look into your your neighbor assistance.
This is you may have a next door neighbor or neighbor across the street, whatever that is able to come check on you at times where your caregiver can't come to you.
So we look at that and the community resources which we just spoke about.
Faith organizations churches often open their doors in a disaster to other people that come in and find rest or perhaps they utilize part of their property for meals, that sort of thing.
So I want you to keep that in mind as a distinct possibility as well.
And what about volunteer groups?
If you know of a volunteer organization that you can get plugged in with to really to.
At least be in contact with them on a regular basis, I think that would be pretty beneficial. With that, with everything I've shared, no matter what I've shared, no matter what your specific situation is, if you take nothing else from anything I've shared, it's this Preparedness is strongest when people work together.
That's right.
See disasters, well, they reveal the strengths and the weaknesses in our preparations.
The people who depend on us, they deserve plans tailored to their needs as well.
So please take some time this week to review medications, your important documents, supplies for a kit, one for home, one for the car and update your emergency contacts, local and long distance and look into pet supplies including food and medications.
Look into what your transportation options might be and your communication plans.
For more information please visit ready.gov that's r e a d y.gov for more information on disaster readiness plus a guide to help you build a kit.
And also visit fema.gov that's F E M a.gov and you can pick up their app in the Google Play store and in the Apple Store and you can use you can use that app for updates and alerts for your area as well.
And weather.gov this is where you'll find up to the minute weather information, weather outlooks and radar.
And my most favorite bonus here for you weather wise, it's an app and it's available in the Google Play store.
Probably they also have it a free well they're both. They both can be free but either the app or the web version at weatherwise as w e a t h e r w I s e app app and again the web version also is free. It's a great resource for weather warned areas for radar, outlooks, alerts. It's one of my favorite apps actually that I keep current on weather threats and so much more.
I'm also a a trained skywarn weather spotter.
And really, this is this is my bonus to you Weatherwise app.
I want to thank you for joining this special episode of Public Facing the Podcast. I'm Joe Holman.
Take care of one another.
Stay safe, stay prepared.
Bye for now.
[00:44:00] Speaker B: Thanks for listening to Public Facing the Podcast with Joe Holman. Visit us online at PublicFacingPod stream and on
[email protected] Public FacingPod.
[00:44:20] Speaker A: Sam.
