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EMERGENCY SELF-HELP
GUIDE
Emergency
Evacuation Preparedness: Taking Responsibility For Your Safety
A Guide For People with Disabilities and
Other Activity Limitations
The Center for
Disability Issues and the Health Professions (CDIHP) at Western
University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California, announces a new 36
page guide to help people with disabilities be better prepared for large
or small-scale emergencies. The guide’s focus helps people with
disabilities take responsibility for their own safety during emergencies
and evacuations and work effectively with first responders.
In
this post-9/11 world, people with disabilities must take responsibility
for their own safety,” said Brenda Premo, CDHIP Director. “There is a
universal human tendency to avoid thinking about possible emergencies.
This avoidance has greater consequences for people with disabilities
than for people without disabilities.”
“No matter what laws
and public policies say, it's up to us as people with disabilities to
individually and collectively do what we need to do to prepare for
disasters. If we just rely on employers, building managers, or fire
inspectors to make sure things are in place, it may or may not happen.
It is not safe to assume that people with disabilities have been
included in evacuation plans. People with disabilities must take an
assertive proactive approach to ensure that our life safety needs are
included in all emergency planning,” says June Isaacson Kailes, the
Guide’s author and CDIHP’s Associate Director. Kailes is known
internationally for her disability-related work in access, health and
wellness, aging and disaster preparedness.
Who
Should Read This Guide?
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Will you
need assistance in an emergency evacuation? |
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Do you experience any of the
following conditions that could interfere with your ability to
quickly evacuate a building? |
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Yes |
No |
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Yes |
No |
Reduced stamina, fatigue or tire
easily (due to a variety of temporary or permanent conditions not
limited to those on this list). |
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Yes |
No |
Respiratory (cardiac [heart]
conditions, asthma, emphysema, or other symptoms triggered by
stress, exertion, or exposure to small amounts of dust or smoke
etc.). |
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Yes |
No |
Emotional, cognitive, thinking,
or learning difficulties (may become confused when dealing with
unfamiliar and unusual activity during an emergency, lose sense of
direction, or may need emergency directions explained in simple
steps or basic concepts). |
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Yes |
No |
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Yes |
No |
Hearing loss (may require
modification to the standard way emergency announcements,
notifications and instructions are provided). |
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Yes |
No |
Temporary limitations resulting
from, but not limited to: |
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Accidents and injuries (sprains, broken bones),
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Yes |
No |
Do you rely on technology or
medication, which may not work in an emergency (hearing aids,
wheelchair, gas mask, elevator, lighting, sounds)? |
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Yes |
No |
Other: |
If you answered
yes to any of these questions you should read this guide available at no
cost from
http://www.cdihp.org/products.html , or to order a hard copy, send a
check payable to: CDIHP for $24.00 (includes shipping, handling and
applicable tax) to CDIHP, 309 E. 2nd Street, Pomona, CA
91766‑1854. Contact CDIHP for pricing on bulk or international orders
at Phone: (909) 469‑5380, TTY (909) 469-5520, Fax: (909) 469‑5407,
Email:
evac@westernu.edu.
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