Education of Elderly Patients About Emergency Preparedness by Health Care Practitioners (original) (raw)
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During disasters, the elderly and the disabled are not as capable of evacuating their homes quickly and as a result may be more prone to injuries and death. Although federal, state and local emergency management programs exist, some individuals, particularly the elderly and disabled, fail to receive the attention they require and fall through the cracks. We describe our new program which relies on neighbors for assistance using a community exchange network/TimeBanking model to be launched in NJ, NY and PA.
Disaster medicine and public health preparedness, 2017
This article conceptualized emergency preparedness as a complex, multidimensional construct and empirically examined an array of sociodemographic, motivation, and barrier variables as predictors of levels of emergency preparedness. The authors used the 2010 wave of the Health and Retirement Study's emergency preparedness module to focus on persons 50 years old and older in the United States by use of logistic regression models and reconsidered a previous analysis. The models demonstrated 3 key findings: (1) a lack of preparedness is widespread across virtually all sociodemographic variables and regions of the country; (2) an authoritative voice, in the role of health care personnel, was a strong predictor of preparedness; and (3) previous experience in helping others in a disaster predisposes individuals to be better prepared. Analyses also suggest the need for caution in creating simple summative indexes and the need for further research into appropriate measures of preparednes...
Care of older persons during and after disasters: meeting the challenge
Background: Older adults have greater vulnerability in disasters and public health emergencies. Aims: This article reviews the associated risk factors, issues in provision of care and methods of intervention reported in the literature, with an objective of improving the understanding that may help to systematize the care of the elderly in disaster situations. Method: Literature was searched in PubMed on themes of disaster, older persons and care and the available articles were reviewed for relevant content. Results: Older adults have increased morbidity and mortality secondary to disasters. Many factors contribute to this. A considerable proportion of older people have pre-existing physical and mental illnesses, disabilities and individual specific needs of care. Some of them are dependent on the health and social care systems, in nursing or old-age homes which requires additional and specific effort to meet their need. It becomes challenging to address these needs in the context of disasters, considering inadequate resources; and in fact many elderly people often do not seem to get the priority intervention they deserve. However there are many examples of systems, pre-disaster preparedness and action plans which focus on the care of elderly to improve the outcome and decrease the impact of disasters. With a coordinated disaster response with multidisciplinary agencies, the communities can help their elders effectively. Conclusion: Although the older adults are recognised as a vulnerable group, their needs are inadequately addressed in disaster situations. There is a need to prioritise their care in all phases of the disaster response to decrease the morbidity and mortality.
Gerontology & geriatric medicine
Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine the association between home visit programs and emergency preparedness among elderly vulnerable people in New South Wales, Australia. Method: The study used data acquired from an intervention program run by emergency agencies and consisted of 370 older people. Seven emergency outcome measures were examined by adjusting for key demographic factors, using a generalized estimating equation model, to examine the association between home visit programs and emergency preparedness. Results: The study revealed that knowledge demonstrated by participants during visits and post home visits showed significant improvements in the seven emergency outcome measures. The odds of finding out what emergencies might affect one's area were significantly lower among older participants who were born outside Australia and those who were women. Discussion: The findings suggest that the intervention via home visits and periodic reminders post these visi...
Innovation in Aging, 2021
Background and Objectives Protecting nursing home and assisted living community residents during disasters continues to be a challenge. The present study explores the experiences of long-term care facilities in Florida that were exposed to Hurricane Irma in 2017. Research Design and Methods We used an abductive approach, combining induction and deduction. Interviews and focus groups beginning in May 2018 were conducted by telephone and in person with 89 administrative staff members representing 100 facilities (30 nursing homes and 70 assisted living communities). Analyses identified themes and subthemes. Findings were further analyzed using the social ecological model to better understand the preparedness and response of nursing homes and assisted living communities to Hurricane Irma. Results 3 main themes were identified including: (1) importance of collaborative relationships in anticipating needs and planning to shelter in place or evacuate; (2) efforts required to maintain safet...
International Journal of Disaster Risk Science/International journal of disaster risk science, 2024
Older adults are significantly impacted by natural hazards and disasters that are exacerbated by climate change. Understanding their awareness and preparedness is essential for enhancing disaster resilience. This study investigated the attitudes, actions, and recommendations of older adults regarding natural hazards that pose risks in their geographic area-specifically floods, wildfires, and/or earthquakes in Canada. Methods for this study included survey and focus groups with older adults (n = 161 and n = 10, respectively) and other high-risk groups from across Canada, that are vulnerable to these natural hazards. The main findings from this study are that current awareness and preparedness among older adults is low, though stronger perceptions of risks are associated with risks specific to geographic locations where respondents live. Several barriers, such as hazard vulnerability misperceptions, cost-related reasons, and lack of hazard awareness have resulted in low awareness and preparedness among these populations. The two main recommendations arising from this research are: (1) improve awareness and preparedness with tailor-made emergency preparedness materials for older adults; and (2) adopt community-based approaches to disaster preparedness through existing community groups to strengthen social connections with a focus on locally specific hazards. The findings from this research can be applied to other hazards, including heatwaves and pandemics.