Planning

Highly recommended*

Communication Access

• DHHCAN Emergency Preparedness Report
• Emergency Captioning/Visual Announcements
• Television Broadcasters
• Weather Warning Systems
• Radio Receivers
• Paging Systems
• Civil Defense Strobe Lights
• Education and Communication

Making Lessons Documented - Real !- Integrating Disability Issues into Instructors' Toolkits, with June Kailes, Hilary Styron and Elizabeth Davis. National Center for Biomedical Research and Training 4th Annual Instructor Professional Development Conference Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge River Center Baton Rouge, LA, 8/17/06.

Orientation Manual for First Responders on the Evacuation of People with Disabilities, FA-235  August 2002, FEMA & US Fire Administration (2002). PDF Format, last accessed 01/30/08

Report on Special Needs Assessment for Katrina Evacuees (SNAKE) Project, National Organization on Disability, 2005, PDF Format, last accessed 01/17/08

Saving Lives: Including People with Disabilities in Emergency Planning, National Council on Disability, 2005, last accessed 01/17/08

Evacuation

Department of Transportation (DOT) Disability Resource Center Emergency Evacuation Tips Emergency preparedness guidelines issued to all DOT employees and facilities nationwide. Document is in Word format. last accessed 01/24/08

Organizing Community Based Organizations

Los Angeles County Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster. Emergency Network Los Angeles (last accessed 01/24/08)

Preparing The Vulnerable Population) -- The Triad Alliance, City of San Leandro, (last accessed 01/24/08). 

Organizing Neighborhoods

Guide to Organizing Neighborhoods for Preparedness, Response, and Recovery, Volunteer Center of Marin (last accessed 01/24/08). 

Planning Guides

A Guide for Including People with Disabilities in Disaster Preparedness Planning, Connecticut Developmental Disabilities Network, 20006, Format PDF, last accessed 02/4/08 *

A Framework of Emergency Preparedness Guidelines for Federal Agencies, Preparing the Workplace for Everyone: Accounting for the Needs of People with Disabilities, 7/05, Format PDF, Posted 02/4/08

Agency Disaster Preparedness Plan, Volunteer Center Serving Howard County, Columbia, Maryland, 7/03, Format PDF, last accessed 02/4/08

Agency Emergency Plan - A Simplified Version for Community-Based Organizations, CARD of Alameda County, 12/01, Format: PDF, last accessed 02/4/08

Disaster Planning Toolkit for the Small to Midsize Business Owner – Open for Business 8/06, Format: PDF, last accessed 02/4/08

Disaster Training for Long-Term Care Communities: Will Yours be Prepared? 2006, last accessed 02/4/08

Experiences of Direct Support Professionals During Hurricanes Katrina and Rita 2007, last accessed 02/4/08

Including People with Disabilities in Emergency Planning: How Are We Doing? 2007, Format PDF, last accessed 02/4/08

Attachment A SNF/NF Disaster Preparedness Plan Tool, 11/04

Attachment B  ICF/MR Disaster Preparedness Plan Tool

Occupant Emergency Program Guide, U.S. General Services Administration, Public Buildings Service, Federal Protective Service, 03-02, Format Microsoft Word, last accessed 02/5/08

Pandemic Influenza Workbook for Long Term Care Providers California Association of Health Facilities, August 2007

Self-Assessment Guide, Disaster Preparedness For Community Care Facilities, California Department of Social Service, 11/03, Format Microsoft Word, Posted 02/4/08,  Format PDF, last accessed 10/30/07

Serving and Protecting: The Role of Disability and Aging Organizations in Disaster Planning 2006, last accessed 02/4/08

When Disaster Strikes: An Emergency Preparedness Checklist for Service Providers 2006, last accessed 02/4/08

Why and How to Include People with Disabilities in Your Emergency Planning Process?  2005, last accessed 01/7/07 * 

Sample Plans

Access Board Emergency Evacuation Procedures, last accessed 01/24/08 

Agency Emergency Plan (last accessed 01/24/08). 

Disaster Preparedness Workbook for Service Providing Agencies, (last accessed 01/24/08). 

USDA Employee Emergency Response Guide USDA Headquarters, Washington, D.C., March 2006, last accessed 02/4/08

U. S. Department of Transportation Emergency Preparedness Guidelines for People with Disabilities (last accessed 01/24/08)

Volunteer Center Response Plan, The Volunteerism Project (last accessed 01/24/08). 

Volunteer Organized Initiative for Community Emergencies, How to Create an Agency Disaster Plan, VOICE of Contra Costa County (last accessed 01/24/08). 

Workbook for Service Providing Agencies, Monterey County Office of Aging, Community, & Employment Services (last accessed 01/24/08). 

Other Resources

9-11 offers important lessons in disaster preparedness January 2002. (Last accessed 01/24/08).

Citizen Corps (last accessed 01/24/08). 

Lessons Learned Information Sharing – a wealth of emergency planning information, which includes disability issues, incident management, training and exercises, public communications, community preparedness, private sector, critical infrastructure. Must first register for a log in name and password, last accessed 02/4/08

Promising Practices

 Community Engagement: Leadership Tool for Catastrophic Health Events, 2006, last accessed 01/22/08, Formats:, Microsoft Word, *

This long, but well worth reading, seminal article makes the case for government leaders, public health and safety professionals, and communities at-large having complementary and mutually supportive roles in emergencies.

It details the critical role  that emergency related community structured dialogue, joint problem solving, and collaborative action among government, citizens at-large, and local opinion leaders can play in augmenting government’s abilities to govern in a crisis, improve application of communally held resources and lessen community losses.

Community partners can collaborate with officials to:

• Create more inclusive planning by engaging in honest, respectful interaction among formal authorities and diverse constituents, necessary to approach policy problems with ethical and cultural complexities.
• Develop robust contingency plans that are more feasible because they reflect community values, economic realities, and collective judgment testing emergency planning assumptions for feasibility and fairness.
• Pool collective wisdom, practical experience, specialized skills, social expectations, and material assets to work on behalf of constituent members,
• Tap community-based organizations that can mobilize their own networks and offer response and recovery capabilities that government does not have or cannot sustain alone. This potentially effective, efficient, and rapid response helps minimize disaster-related losses, human death and injuries.
• Maintain trust during a crisis.

State and Local Government (also see Legal Issues and Disability Rights)

Access and Functional Services Coordinator, California Governor’s Office of Emergency Service, Proposed Deputy Director Position (Version 3), Kailes, J. 2007. posted 05/3/07 *

Accommodating Individuals with Disabilities in the Provision of Disaster Mass Care, Housing, nnd Human Services, FEMA. last accessed 01/24/08

ADA Applies to Restoration of Damaged Facilities, 10/07, FEMA, last accessed 01/24/08

ADA Best Practices Tool Kit for State and Local Governments (Chapter 7) last accessed 08/5/07,  U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Disability Rights Section, July 26, 2007, includes:

• Emergency Management under Title II of the ADA
• Introduction to Appendices 1 and 2:
• ADA and Emergency Shelters: Access for All in Emergencies and Disasters
• ADA Checklist for Emergency Shelters

An ADA Guide for Local Governments - Making Community Emergency Preparedness and Response Programs Accessible to People with Disabilities, U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Disability Rights Section, Last updates 8/06, last accessed 09/12/07

Disaster Services and “Special Needs:” Term of Art or Meaningless Term? June Kailes, 2005, last accessed 01/17/08, Also published in International Association of Emergency Managers Bulletin, Special Focus Issue: Emergency Preparedness for Individuals With Disabilities, Part 2, April, 2005.

Why and How to Include People with Disabilities in Your Emergency Planning Process?  2005, last accessed 01/7/07 *

Templates (Format Microsoft Word), Posted 04/15/08

Emergency Training Activities

Updating Plans, Policies and Procedures - Options for clearly communicating updates in headers and footers, in update notices, and in table of contents. Often organizations spend time updating their emergency preparedness plans, or sections or their plan, but they fail to date their work.