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An emergency plan should start with the people who will use it. A visible or invisible disability, chronic illness, communication difficulty or reliance on equipment may change needs and response times. Build the plan with the person concerned, without presuming their abilities or deciding for them.
1. Describe needs and resources
Start with an ordinary day: travel, care, communication, food, sleep, housing temperature and aids used. Identify dependencies that would become critical during a transport outage or interruption. The need for a medical device does not necessarily have the same delay as the need for general lighting.
Also note the resources: skills of the person, available relatives, services, technical aids and places already known. A formula that adds up mindset, luck and ability does not replace this description. Preparation is not a classification between people; it is used to organize usable solutions.
2. Organise relays with the agreement of the person
Agree on who can help, for what task and how that person will be reached. Plan an alternative if the first contact is affected by the same event. Test the contact information and clarify the limits: a general promise to help does not guarantee transport, a continuous presence or a particular skill.
Share only the necessary information, by an accepted means. The person must know who has the instructions and how they will be updated. Helpful support asks how to help before reaching a technical aid, a service animal or the person himself.
3. Check the home support
Accommodation may contain the most familiar resources, but staying there isn’t always the safest option. Consider what needs to work: device, battery, consumables, charging, user, and the possibility of replacement. Have the power solutions specified with the supplier and the professionals concerned; any battery does not constitute a validated backup.
Organize access to medicines and care with health partners. Do not reduce or modify a treatment to “maximize” a reserve without professional instruction. Check the particular food products, hygiene measures and the needs of the service or companion animal.
4. Preparing for an accessible departure
Identify a destination and a means of transport that is truly suitable. Check access to the building, toilet, sleeping area, power supply and necessary support. A place open to the public does not automatically offer all the required adaptations.
In a building, discuss the plan with those responsible before the emergency. An evacuation aid or a special chair requires proper equipment, procedure and trained people; don’t assume that a neighbor will improvise a transfer. If the person cannot evacuate or is in danger, use the local emergency number and communicate their location and needs.
5. Defining useful triggers
A trigger must be linked to understandable information: evacuation instructions, unavailability of an essential service or margin of supply reached according to the plan established with the professional. Avoid basing the start on rumors or a general collapse scenario.
For each trigger, write down the action, the person in charge who accepts it and relay it if that person is missing. The plan must be able to evolve if the road, destination or state of health changes. An alternative option has value only if it has been considered in advance.
6. Adapting the communication
An audible alert does not meet all needs. Examine useful visual, written, tactile or voice formats and necessary accessories. Prepare short sentences or a communication sheet if it helps the person, without entering more health data than is necessary.
Keep a copy of the plan in a known and accessible place. A phone copy can complete a usable version without a network or battery. Label the material appropriately for its user and verify that the designated persons can find the information.
7. Doing a respectful exercise
Choose a small step: join the contact, find the instructions or check a destination. Explain the purpose and collect the return of the person. An exercise should not impose fatigue, pain, risky transfer or personal exposure to prove that a plan works.
Repeat the difficulties and distribute the corrections. An improvement can be an appointment with the supplier, a transport check or a more legible delivery. Success is measured by the usefulness to the person, the continuity of needs and the clarity of the aids available.
Reference: Public Safety Canada , Disability Preparedness. The measures must be adapted to the person and local services.