From:

June Isaacson Kailes, Associate Director
Center for Disability Issues and the Health Profession
Western University of Health Sciences
jik@pacbell.net || www.jik.com

Date: May 2003

The Center for Disability Issues and the Health Professions (CDIHP) at Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, California, new publication Emergency Evacuation Preparedness Guide For People with Disabilities and Other Activity Limitations. This guide is available for free distribution.

CDIHP request your help in giving this Emergency Evacuation Preparedness Guide For People with Disabilities the widest possible circulation.

Please freely reprint any of the written text attached in your web sites, listservs, mailing lists, newsletter articles, and flyers. You will find for your use the following files below for your use:

1. 142 words - short newsletter, listserv or web site announcement
2. 445 words newsletter, listserv or web site announcement
3. 1039 words newsletter, listserv or web site announcement
4. 2764 words Emergency Ability Self-Assessment- Evaluate your capabilities, limitations and needs, as well as your surroundings to determine what type of help you will need in an emergency.

Please use any piece you choose in its entirety. You can also freely reprint and distribute the guide in it entirety found in pdf. format at http://www.cdihp.org/pdf/finalv4brochure.pdf especially for those who do not have internet access.

Dissemination of this Guide was made possible, in part, through the generous support of the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation.

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142 words - Short newsletter, listserv or web site announcement:

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. This guide helps people take responsibility for their own safety during emergencies and evacuations and work effectively with first responders.

This Guide is available at no cost from http://www.cdihp.org/evacuationpdf.htm, 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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445 words for newsletter, listserv or web site announcement:

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 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.

This Guide is available at no cost from http://www.cdihp.org/evacuationpdf.htm, 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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1039 words

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?

This guide focuses on people with disabilities and activity limitations successfully evacuating buildings. Its goal is to help you strengthen your evacuation preparedness.

Will you need assistance in an emergency evacuation?
Do you experience any of the following conditions that could interfere with your ability to quickly evacuate a building?
Yes	No	Limitations that interfere with walking or using stairs (joint pain, mobility device user - wheelchair, canes, crutches, walker).
Yes	No	Reduced stamina, fatigue or tire easily (due to a variety of temporary or permanent conditions not limited to those on this list).
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.).
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).
Yes	No	Vision loss (may require assistance in learning the emergency evacuation routes or assistance in moving down stairs).
Yes	No	Hearing loss (may require modification to the standard way emergency announcements, notifications and instructions are provided).
Yes	No	Temporary limitations resulting from, but not limited to: Surgery, Accidents and injuries (sprains, broken bones), Pregnancy.
Yes	No	Do you rely on technology or medication, which may not work in an emergency (hearing aids, wheelchair, gas mask, elevator, lighting, sounds)?
Yes	No	Other:

Abilities/Preparedness
Yes	No	Do you know the location of all fire alarms and extinguishers?
Yes	No	Are you able to activate the fire alarms?
Yes	No	Can you operate a fire extinguisher?
Yes	No	Have you practiced?
Yes	No	Do you know the location of ALL exits?
Yes	No	Have you evaluated your ability to use them?
Yes	No	Have you determined how you may be of assistance to others in an emergency? (i.e. guiding people to and through darkened spaces and exits if you have no or low vision, offering calming and emotional support, etc.)
Yes	No	Have you anticipated how you will function if your service animal becomes confused, panicked, frightened or disoriented? A harness leash, pad protectors (for hot asphalt, hot metal stairs, broken glass) are important items for managing a nervous or upset animal. Be prepared to use alternative ways to negotiate your environment (i.e. sighted guides, members of your personal support network who can offer emotional support).
Yes	No	Do you keep critical carry-with-you supplies:
Yes	No	Essential medication?
Yes	No	Small flashlight?
Yes	No	Fully charged portable devices and extra batteries) such as a cell phone. Many people used cell phones and two-way pagers on 9/11/01 to alert authorities or to call loved ones.
Yes	No	Paper and pencil?
Yes	No	Customized, pre-printed message?
Yes	No	Emergency Health Information? It should communicate to rescuers what they need to know if they find you unconscious or incoherent or if they need to quickly help evacuate you (list of current medications, allergies, special equipment, names, addresses, and telephone numbers of doctors, pharmacies, family members, friends, and any other important information).
Evacuating a Site After Usual Business Hours
Yes	No	Determine your risks regarding being in the building after usual working hours when there are fewer people to provide emergency assistance? Is there a way you can make your presence known to others including personnel in the security or emergency control center, when in the building after hours? Do you know how to reach emergency personnel in case on an emergency?
Sight
Yes	No	Will you be able to evacuate independently without relying on the usual auditory cues (such as the hum of the copy machine near the stairs)? (These cues will be absent, if the electricity goes off or alarms are blaring).
Yes	No	Can you read the emergency signage in print or Braille?
Yes	No	Are there raised and Braille characters on signs that designate exits, direction to exits, information on exit routes, and floors designated by numbers or letters, including floor level designations provided in stairwells?
Yes	No	Is there emergency lighting along the escape route that will automatically light, if electrical service is interrupted?
Yes	No	If you wear contact lenses, what will you do if and when smoke, dust or fumes become painful or dangerous. Do you keep glasses with you?
Yes	No	Can you use the two-way communication devices installed in the elevators and areas of refuge/ rescue assistance?
Yes	No	Have you instructed your personal support network how to act as a “sighted guide” if needed?
Hearing
Yes	No	Have you practiced having people communicate emergency information to you?
Yes	No	Does the building have two-way communication devices installed in the elevators and areas of refuge/rescue assistance?
Yes	No	Have you practiced using them in a non-emergency to make sure the system works?
Yes	No	Do you know the locations of text telephones or phones that have amplification?
Yes	No	Do emergency alarm systems have audible and visible features (visual strobes)?
Yes	No	If you are hard of hearing will you be able to hear over the sound of very loud emergency alarms? How will you understand emergency information and directions that are typically given verbally? (Hearing aids amplify background noise, so the sound of the alarms may interfere or drown out voice announcements). Instruct your support network to speak looking at you and to repeat critical announcements.
Yes	No	Will your hearing aids work if they get wet, for example from sprinklers?
Yes	No	Are the newer displays (television monitors or scrolling text signs) available throughout your site? Will they work if the power goes out?
Yes	No	Do you know all their locations?
Yes	No	Are portable devices (tactile/vibrating pagers) available for you to use?
Yes	No	Do you keep with you a small flashlight handy to aid in seeing visual cues during an emergency?
Yes	No	Have you determined how you will communicate with colleagues and emergency personnel if there is no interpreter or if your hearing aid(s) are not working?
Yes	No	Do you carry with you paper and pens?
Yes	No	Do you carry a pre-printed copy of key phrase messages with you such as "I use American Sign Language (ASL)," "I do not write or read English well." "If you make announcements, I will need to have them written simply or signed."
DeafBlind
Yes	No	Do you have a personal support network? Since the usual alarms or flashing lights won't work, it is critical that you have a large personal support network
Speech
Yes	No	Have you determined how you will communicate with colleagues and emergency personnel, if you do not have your usual communication devices (augmentative communication device, word board, artificial larynx)?
Yes	No	Do you store copies of a word or letter board, paper and writing materials, pre-printed messages and key phrases specific to an anticipated emergency, in your wallet, backpack or purse?
Yes	No	Does your Emergency Health Information Card explain the best method to communicate with you (written notes, pointing to letters/words/pictures)?
Memory, Judgment, Learning And Related Information Processing
Yes	No	Have you practiced how to communicate your needs?
Yes	No	Have you anticipated the types of reactions you may have in an emergency and planned strategies for coping with these reactions? (There are a number of reactions that may occur or become more intense during an emergency. Such reactions include: confusion, thought processing and memory difficulties, agitation, paranoia, crying, fear, panic, anxiety, and shaking. Think through the types of reactions you may anticipate and plan strategies for coping with these reactions. Prepare your personal support network to assist you with these planned strategies).
Yes	No	Does your Emergency Health Information explain the best method to assist you?
Assistive Device Users
Yes	No	What will it take to get your wheelchair or other important assistive devices out of the building?
Yes	No	Have you informed your personal support network how to operate and safely move your equipment if necessary?
Yes	No	Have you labeled equipment, added simple instruction cards (laminate instruction cards for added durability) and attached them to equipment regarding how to operate and safely move?
Yes	No	Do you keep a copy of these instructions with you and have you shared copies with your personal support network?
Yes	No	If you are a manual wheelchair user, do you carry heavy gloves with you to protect hands from debris while pushing?
Yes	No	Have you thought through all your options if you are not able to be evacuated in your chair or other assistive device?
Physical / Mobility
Yes	No	Can you operate a fire extinguisher?
Yes	No	Have you practiced?
Yes	No	Will extended handles make them usable for you?
Yes	No	Do you know the location of all exits and your ability to navigate them?
Yes	No	Do you know where all evacuation chairs are stored?
Yes	No	Have you practiced using them?
Yes	No	Do you know where all, if any, rescue areas are located?
Yes	No	Can you reach and activate an alarm?
Yes	No	Will you be able to independently evacuate from the site? (What will it take)?
Yes	No	How long will it take?
Yes	No	Will you need someone to help with your balance and help you to walk down steps more quickly?
Yes	No	Would it be faster if you used an evacuation chair or were carried?
Yes	No	If you absolutely had to, could you bump down the stairs on your butt, crawl, etc? Will you need something to strap on to protect your butt? Gloves to protect your hands? Etc.
Yes	No	Have you tested this method?
Yes	No	Can you transfer in and out of evacuation devices independently, or with assistance?
Yes	No	Can you give quick instructions regarding how to safely transport you if you need to be carried?
Yes	No	Have you included any areas of vulnerability regarding how to safely remove you from your chair?
Yes	No	If you want to be lifted in your chair make sure this is realistic (How much does your chair weigh with you in it)?
Yes	No	Do you know where all the areas of refuge/rescue assistance are located? (See Areas of Refuge/Rescue Assistance)
Yes	No	Do you know if your site has “evacuation elevators” and where they are located? (see Use of Elevators)
Allergies, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS)
Yes	No	Do you carry supplies with you based on your worse days: Industrial respirator with gas-mist filters?\ Gloves? Inhaler? Nicotine gum for use in bargaining with rescuers or distraught people who will want to smoke cigarettes?
Yes	No	Does your emergency health information clearly explain your sensitivities and reactions, most helpful treatments, and treatments which are harmful? Be specific, as other conditions (disorientation, aphasia, panic) may be diagnosed and treated as something other than chemical sensitivity and you may not be able to describe your needs verbally.

June Isaacson Kailes
Disability Policy Consultant
Phone 310.821.7080
Fax 310.827.0269
jik@pacbell.net
www.jik.com

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