AoA Applauds the Alabama Department of Senior Services for National Award for Weather Preparedness

The Administration on Aging congratulates the Alabama Department of Senior Services (ADSS) and Commissioner Irene Collins for being honored last week at the 2009 National Hurricane Conference in Austin, Texas as the winner in the "Senior Citizens’ Preparedness Award" category for development of the Safe Center concept.

The Safe Center concept, a storm-proof structure that provides a safe refuge for seniors in times of emergency, is the result of a partnership between ADSS, U.S. Administration on Aging, Alabama Emergency Management Agency and the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs.

Since its conception, the initiative has continued to develop in response to needs identified for special populations after other hurricanes and tornados ravaged the state. Before the Safe Center was developed, there were no identified safe shelters for seniors to retreat to before or after a storm to regain a since of normalcy and reconnect with friends. To advance this cause, Alabama broke ground on the nation’s first safe center in Guin, Ala., in 2006 – a landmark event toward ensuring the safety of Alabama’s seniors by demonstrating a commitment to their well-being. Two years after the groundbreaking, the Guin Safe Center opened its doors and now serves as a model for other communities and the nation to combine a senior center that will be used daily with a safe center area that will provide a place of respite for seniors in the event of a disaster.

In addition to the Guin Safe Center, several other centers across the state are in the process of being built to achieve the goal of seven centers by 2010. AoA has recognized Alabama's Safe Center concept as an Older Americans Month Program Champion because it represents the efforts of the national administration to modernize community-based long term care and provide greater assurance that older people in the U.S. will maintain their independence in the community longer than ever before. For more information about Alabama's Safe Center, visit http://www.adss.state.al.us/news.cfm

'Death in Disasters' seminar

I just got back from the 'Death in Disasters' seminar that was put on by the Pierce County High Risk Populations Disaster Planning Coalition. Of the three quarterly seminars held to date, this was by far the best attended. Of the information presented, here is a summary (taken from one of the speaker's slides):

• Recommend developing a planning committee
  This should include those who handle deaths at your facility on a daily basis (e.g. pathology)
• Identify storage location; evaluation whether facility meets requirements for refrigerated trailer
• Identify staff to perform key morgue management job functions
• Review and adapt (as necessary) protocol for:
  -Death Reporting
  -Managing Personal Effects
  -Decedent Tracking
  -Death Certification

There has been some interest from the WA State Department of Health on putting together several trainings on this issue. Feedback on what type of training might be useful would be welcomed by Cindy Gleason at cindy.gleason@doh.wa.gov - please feel free to share your opinions with her.

Ready.gov for people who are disabled

The federal government has part of its disaster preparedness website, Ready.gov, dedicated to disaster readiness for people who are disabled. It's pretty interesting, and I liked their suggestion for people who receive any sort of payments from the government (Social Security, SSI, etc.) to get direct deposit. This will allow them to continue to receive their money if something happens and banks close, electricity is down, mail delivery is delayed and the like.