Preparing for Storms and Emergencies? Caregivers share advice here.

[AARPTeri]

Great blog on preparing for emergency when you are a caregiver.  Have you had to deal with something like this?  How did you plan?

http://blog.aarp.org/2015/04/30/amy-goyer-emergency-planning-for-caregiving/

[AmandaSingleton]

The NY Times had an article related to this conversation just the other day:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/14/well/live/elderly-disabled-hurricane-safety-advice.html

[AmandaSingleton]

First, I hope that all our community members who are riding out Florence are doing okay.  Check in and let us know how you are faring.

As a Floridian and former caregiver, this is an issue near and dear to my heart!  It is essential to have a plan for your care partner for natural disasters and emergencies.  I would encourage a plan for medication refills (you should be allowed emergency refills in advance of a disaster), evacuation, power loss, and alternative living arrangements.  Know your local special needs shelters that can provide assistance for your loved one if they require special medical equipment, oxygen, etc.  Register with your city or county if your loved one needs assistance with transportation or evacuation in the event of an emergency.  Keep assistive devices and medical equipment in consistent and secure locations so that they can be accessed readily.  Communicate with your support network so that they know your plan and you can check on one another in advance of and after an emergency.

My hurricane season plan when I was caregiving with my mom was to ride it out at the hospice facility with her.  She was in a "long term" apartment and I was able to spend as much time there as I needed.  The season prior, she was extremely ill and limited in mobility.  Fortunately, she lived in a non-evacuation zone.  I planned to stay with her through any hurricanes that season, but it was a blessedly quiet year.  Just thinking through what we would do without power, ability to get to chemo and radiation, etc., was enough to send my blood pressure through the roof. 

Last year, during Hurricane Irma, my husband, daughter, and I were the only people driving south when we were forced to evacuate our coastal town.  It was a dramatic visual compared to the bumper-to-bumper northbound interstate.  We evacuated to my in-laws' home, who fortunately did live in a non-evacuation zone but were in the direct path of the storm.  At that point, my father-in-law had been battling cancer for about a year and a half.  It was so important to my husband and I that we be available to help prepare their home for the impending storm and be together if the storm destroyed the area.  My father-in-law had a few recent emergency hospitalizations and it was a blessing that he had an energetic rally during the week of the storm. We held our breath a lot that week.  A lot.   If he had a medical emergency during the storm, it would have been difficult to get immediate help.   We prepared the best we could, but had a lot of luck on our side that week as well.  The storm was not as bad as projected and we were able to resume (semi)normal life within a few weeks.