Kona opening session – delayed from 9 a.m. start (9:18 a.m.) Welcome – Howard, make the island a safer place
Introduce Francine Wai, Executive Director of DCAB
• Ask by show of hands, how many people have seen, heard or read this plan
• This is not a training workshop, a workshop because we are asking you to work.
• Turn the 2007 plan into a 2008 plan. Every year we update this and share it with
legislators, policy makers, people who provide funding so that it is responsive to
persons with disabilities and special health needs.
• Really need grassroots examination of the plan and improve it, specific to local conditions.
• We will accept and take all your comments.
Introduce the people who will help facilitate the plan.
• Debbie Jackson
• Francine Wai
• Danny Tengun
• Robin Brandt
All the agencies that are collaborating to make these meeting possible.
• Paid for by the Centers for Disease Control, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through the Public Health Emergency Preparedness Cooperative Agreement
Thank Howard for arranging the logistics here.
Debbie will discuss agenda and ground rules.
Debbie:
• Did everyone get handouts
• Agenda and general timelines – to complete by 3 p.m.
• Notice the blog address – comments from your workshop and around the state will be posted
• Some people have not used the blog – it’s pretty intuitive to use
• The PowerPoint to review this morning
• Evaluation form
• Interagency Action Plan handout
• Francine and Debbie will provide a handout specific to their sessions
Logistics:
• Restroom locations
• Pick up handouts from outside table – telling what we will do and how we will do it
Brief ground rules
1. Resepect each other – so all cell phones and beepers silenced
2. Be open and honest with your feedback
3. Critique ideas but not the person expressing it
4. Feel free to express ideas others might not agree with
5. Speak one at a time – we are recording notes and if more than one person speaks it makes it difficult
6. Respect the process – let’s follow the agenda and times, start and end the meeting on time
7. Ask about the assumptions – work on dialogue
8. Express ideas here at the meeting. If you have an idea that comes up later, and see how things work out – you can access the blog. You can type in your comment. You can put it up later on. The blog will have the meeting notes from all meetings.
Invitation for two participants to attend a meeting next Monday, October 22nd on O’ahu
PowerPoint to go over what the plan includes
Francine – from the time that you checked in to now, how many read the current report?
The plan is on the DCAB website.
How many have seen or read the report – good, a few more than on Kauai Focuses on the needs of persons with disabilities and other special health needs We will finish this and take to the Legislators in January.
This plan was developed by a working group that consisted of a number of State agencies:
• Department of Education – concerned with students
• Department of Health agencies
• Department of Human Services
• Executive Office on Aging
• State Civil Defense
• State Council on Developmental Disabilities
• Civil Defense in each county
• Health Care Association of Hawaii (all hospitals that must respond)
• The Mayor’s committee in all counties (by various names, none in Honolulu)
• Association of the Blind
• Association of the Deaf
Why is this issue so important?
• Look at the results of hurricane Katrina, Wilma, and Rita. When there are no preparations then people lose their lives. Particularly those who are vulnerable and unable to evacuate: people with disabilities, the elderly, and those with special health needs. We want to include more of these people in the planning.
Who are we talking about when we talk about people with disabilities?
• Physical or mobility disabilities – use canes or crutches
• PW mental illness or has mental retardation or other cognitive disabilities, people with traumatic brain injuries
• PW are blind or partially sighted (Some people noted that someone could wave down a bus, unless you can’t identify a bus)
• PW speech or hearing disability (sirens cannot be heard by people who are HOH or Deaf) or people who have difficulty speaking
• Chronic health conditions or frail elderly
• Frail children and youth
• Pregnant women and infants [noted, in Kona]
Harris Poll for National Organization with Disabilities found:
• In doing the plan, if you look at the ADA – it says there are approximately 20% of our population has a disability – about one in five.
• For this report we are looking at a smaller percent – But the National Organization on Disabilities did a study and we think about 10 -13% (120,000 to 160,000 people) who may need assistance at evacuation centers.)
Other findings in this poll:
• 58% of people with disabilities do not know who to contact in an emergency. Individuals who have case managers in a number of services are working to educate about where to go for a shelter.
• 61% have no plans to quickly and safely evacuate their home (identify people in licensed care homes – see last page of the plan – only 12,000 of the 126,000 needing assistance)
• 50% of those employed do not have an evacuation plan (a large portion of the population)
• Where are people located? See last page on the plan to show were 12,000 are – but not most. People with disabilities live where they choose – so we don’t know where they live. Some service agencies know where they live – other live independently.
Focus of this plan is:
• Emergency preparedness
Question: I’m one of the independent people. But if you put me somewhere else, put me in a shelter, I will no longer be independent. I won’t know where the grab bars are. I made my home so I am independent. In a shelter I am reduced to a different level. By reducing the number who you serve, you say they won’t need help. You should be looking at the statistics so that more need help, not less.
Answer: Danny will discuss shelters and these statistics. We are not forcing anyone to move to a shelter. No one will force you to go to a shelter. We will make space available for folks who want to go to a shelter. We are pushing “shelter in place”. For example nursing facility with 40 people with medical equipment and medication available.
Level II – Who knows what a level II shelter is?
Level I shelters are for persons with disabilities who can care for themselves. There are about 200 of these in the state. It is a segregated shelter. Single males cannot sleep with single females. This is because it requires order. “General shelter” Joke: people with two year old babies are sleeping outside. Segregated shelters are not bad. They are segregated to create control. If you can take care of yourself, you will be in a Level I shelter. The shelters are safer than wooden shelters.
Level II – portions of the general population. Envision everyone seeking shelter on the same campus. People with different needs and desire to have pets with them will have their pets in a different part of the campus. Level II shelter is for people needing medical assistance or self care help. People with chronic illness or requiring heightened need. For example, someone who needs help changing clothes, feeding, medication, have life-sustaining equipment. Must bring your caregiver.
Level III – examples: someone who is 9 months pregnant and ready to give birth; someone who just had major surgery should call the doctor and get directions about what to do. If you are under the care of a physician, you should check with a physician to see what the doctor suggests. This area needs more discussion. This is simply a concept now. Acute medical care.
Question: What if there is no phone service.
Answer: You need to talk with your doctor.
Question: What if I come with heightened level of need – will you turn me away?
Answer: No. No one will be turned away. It’s a personal responsibility.
We are not only talking about our residents but also our visitors. And realize that some people will become ill or injured or disabled as a result of this emergency. There will not be badges to label people. Everyone will be advised where they should go, based upon their capacity.
Question: Have you considered putting this in phone books?
Answer: Give that suggestion in Debbie’s group.
Comment: County Civil Defense pushes reading your phone book.
Comment: National Caregiver’s Association is going to have a conference next month would be a good place to advertise this information.
Francine:
Will go through all seven goals rather quickly. You will have more opportunities to make comment.
Basic principals
The first basic principal is that emergency readiness is first and foremost a personal responsibility. Emergency readiness is personal. Emergency preparedness is a government responsibility.
1. Emergency sheltering is a personal responsibility – whether we have a responsibility or not.
2. PWD or special health needs should remain with their families, not be separated. We want to keep people together as a family unit – it means you will care for each other and less for the shelter staff or health staff to care for. People with disabilities or special health needs will be kept with their caregiver.
3. This action plan must be done in the community – not in isolation – with other emergencies (pandemic flu, terrorist response, emergency or natural disaster).
4. We are not interested in a registry for people with disabilities. Some people will wait if they are on a registry and think someone will come and get them. (Discussion of the problem with a registry – may create a false sense of security, thinking that the person will be “saved” because on the registry.)
Basic goals:
Goal 1: Meet all ADA requirements for all shelters
Upgrade the existing shelters. Will tell you about the shelters we are already working on. The training of the shelter workers themselves.
Goal 2: Shelter in place as much as possible. Not enough money to make shelters for everyone.
• We will never have enough money to shelter everyone who needs a shelter – everyone should try as much as possible by sheltering in place
• Tax credits and care facility – loss mitigation program give money from DCCA for mitigation of personal homes
Goal 3: Increase the number of Level II shelters. Have 220 shelters goal to have Level II space to the same campus.
Debbie –
Goal 4: Started with Department of Health and Department of Human Services.
Goal 5: Healthcare providers must have evacuation plan in place. Nursing homes, adult mental health homes, adult residential care home – will have plans for all people living with them. It did not work at recent emergencies to take all these people and drop them off at a hospital. Many of these people do not need acute care.
Question: Will this be a requirement?
Answer: This is being made into a requirement. Need to look at sheltering in place for care home and nursing home residents.
Question: When Katrina hit – there was a lot of lawlessness, people who died who had no where to go. Is this part of the plan?
Answer: No, not in this plan. This plan must be part of a larger picture. Shelters must deal with food preparation, the homeless people who don’t want to leave after the emergency is over because there is no where to go. We tried to stay out of these issues, unless there is a unique disability concern.
Question: People with disabilities are targeted more for murder and rape.
Answer: The types of emergencies vary greatly. Red Cross has a SOP for volunteers. I did go to Katrina and Astrodome. Yes, it is a concern. But we need to focus on this plan. Bring up anything you feel should be brought up – it can and should be part of a bigger plan.
Question: I learned a year ago how important it is to plan ahead. Even though my home is served by three elevators, all were out. One came back in three days. All three were fixed six months later. I was lucky it occurred at 7 a.m. Three hours later I would have been out and I could not have gone back home in three days. Are there temporary plans – so that I could get shelter in the period where I couldn’t get home?
Answer: If you raise the flag that planning – we don’t have a Red Cross staff person here. But if you have a special situation, talk to the County, talk to Red Cross. If you have ten people who need to be evacuated to a shelter, reserve a spot now. If you have an agreement ahead of time, I may have a problem ahead of time. We can work on it.
If the County opens up a temporary shelter, they may need to accommodate a person with a disability. You may need two to three other people where you can go if you cannot go to your home. Have a mental plan of options other than your own home. Exchanges of home sharing in the case of an emergency.
Francine, Goals 6 and 7
Goal 6: Notification.
Question: Would like to see people with limited English proficiency on this list as well.
Answer: When this goal started out, with have a difficult time notifying people. But people with disabilities or special health needs may take longer to get ready. It’s more difficult.
Question: I’ve been bringing this up for several years. Puna area is unwired. Not even radio service for the police. There are AWS and coconut wireless. How will we get the information out when nothing else works?
Answer: Let’s discuss in goal 6. We recognize that there are issues about electricity.
Goal 7: Transportation. People with disabilities may have difficulty getting somewhere, to a shelter. Looked at developing emergency plans and options in each county if an emergency occurs. Our goals here are very high, and a significant dose of reality has jarred many of us about what is not going to happen in an emergency. Especially since neighbor island transit is not developed as well as O’ahu in regular times, much less in emergency times.
Danny will discuss the shelters and where they are located. Don’t shoot the messenger.
Overview of the shelters. There are 27 shelters on the Big Island. Other county facilities are used for brush fires, etc. There is a shortage of 26,000 spaces. (Reading from the PowerPoint presentation.) This is based on 35% of the population evacuating but it could be more or less. What will happen if 50% or 60% or 70% of the population needs to evacuate?
With the funding left, we will probably create an additional 6,000 spaces in the state.
Classrooms for SPED students are being used as special needs shelters unofficially because they are accessible. If the restroom is not in the room, it will be nearby.
Question: One of the schools is right on the edge of tsunami evacuation. If a tsunami hits, it will be disrupted.
Answer: Yes, all shelters are not automatically open. Wait until the tsunami hits and open shelters afterward. Reads list of shelters – it doesn’t mean they will all be open. Red Cross, County Civil Defense and Department of Education will make determination of which shelters to open. Listen to your radio.
Question: There were no radio stations or TV during the earthquake. Has that been corrected?
Answer: Governor’s Communication group has been working on this. That was a big problem that the media did not have backup generators.
Comment: If it is mass communication, the reverse cell phone would be helpful. A couple of radio towers in Puna would be helpful.
We have done simulations to check the situation out. We included persons with disabilities to develop action plan, and now you will be part of it.
Pictures of simulations for persons with special needs.
Discussion of HUB shelter concept and model.
Supplies that will be initiatives for focus. May have oxygen available, need other people to step up. Also need secure storage for this equipment. No one will transport hospital bed to the shelter – we have some from PVC pipe and filled with foam. Are planning to have some beds.
Private sheltering program to develop the use of churches, theatres, parking structures, condominiums, nursing home as shelters.
Loss Mitigation grant program to retrofit your home for any high winds. First come first serve. You can do that today. Call 586-0899. Brought applications.
Products that can be used for retrofitting: film for windows, screens used on schools, aluminum screens, roll down shutters. Safe room for $5,000 to $7,000. Use in the corner of your house. You can put these outside as well or add on to your home. Can get these on the internet. You and your family with your dog.
Typical shelter – about 35% of those present have an emergency kit. Everyone needs one. Red Cross says that you must exist 5 to 10 days. FEMA won’t come in for a bout 10 days. You must bring your own stuff. No pets in the shelter. Once DOE signs off MOA with Humane Society, it will be able to use campuses for pet friendly shelters.
If you live in a single wall home, you must get out.
Question: What about assistance animals?
Answer: Any shelter must take an assistance animal.
• Count off – in order to break off. We have group 1 and 2.
• Danny goal 1, 2 and 3 emergency shelters
• Francine goal 6 and 7 notification and transportation
• Debbie goal 4 and 5 public education and working with facilities so that we can have people more prepared in the case of an emergency
• We will look for another room for meeting because the noise from group discussions can be overwhelming.
• Break in the morning after the PowerPoint
• We will provide lunch. After lunch we will meet in groups again.
Everyone will have a chance to comment on every part of the plan.
Short break – then move to groups at 10:35 a.m.