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Disability Services Home
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Emergency Planning and Preparedness for People with Disabilities |
What to Include In Your Plan / Resources
• Be Informed! • Make A Plan! • Make A Kit! • Practice the Plan! • Know Five (Neighbors)! •
Most importantly, develop a support system that will contact
and/or assist you in an emergency.
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1. You are encouraged to sign up for emergency alerts from Alert Montgomery. Let Montgomery County contact you using the Roam Secure Alert Network during a major crisis or emergency. Alert Montgomery can deliver important emergency alerts, notifications and updates to you on all of your devices at once:
- e-mail account (work, home, other)
- cell phone
- text page
- Blackberry
- wireless PDA
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2. You should also have a plan in the event of an emergency that addresses your particular needs. The first step is to obtain and complete the File of Life by calling the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services' Aging and Disability Resource Unit at 240-777-3000 (V) 240-777-4575 (TTY) or e-mailing your request to hhsmail@montgomerycountymd.gov
The File of Life organizes your health history, medications, allergies, etc. in one place in the event emergency personnel need to treat you. The File of Life has a magnet so that it can be kept on your refrigerator door. You might also want to carry one with you. The County is encouraging every resident to complete the File of Life and develop a personal plan in the event of an emergency. For more information on emergency preparededness contact Public Health at 240-777-4200
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3. Make a plan that includes:
- one gallon of water per person per day for three days,
- non-perishable food such as canned or packaged food,
- one change of clothes and footwear per person,
- three days' worth of prescription medications (if needed),
- flashlight and extra batteries,
- manual can opener,
- battery-powered, solar-powered or hand-crank radio,
- hygiene items like soap, toilet paper and a toothbrush, and
- first said basics like antiseptic, bandages and non-prescription medicine.
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4. Practice the plan and review with your family and friends what will take place in the event of an emergency.
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| 5. Know five neighbors as they will typically be your first line of support - most importantly, develop a support system that will contact and/or assist you in an emergency. |  Back to top
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What To Include In Your Plan |
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The following questions may be helpful in thinking about the issues that your plan needs to include:
- How will I arrange for personal care assistance if in-home care support is unavailable?
- How will I get food, water and other necessary supplies?
- If I am dependent on home-delivered meals, and deliveries are interrupted, how will I get food?
- How will I fill prescriptions for life-sustaining and other important medications, and replace vital personal equipment (e.g., hearing aids, wheelchair batteries) damaged or lost in the disaster?
- If I live in a group home or assisted living facility, do I know whether the facility has a disaster plan and is taking measures to support me in a disaster?
- Is there a designated person who will contact me to check on my status and help me to get the services I need? This could be a friend, family member, a personal care attendant or an agency.
- If you have a special need or medical consideration, please be sure to indicate that whenever calling for help. That way the emergency personnel can be most responsive to your needs.
- Pepco has an Emergency Medical Equipment Notification Program for customers who rely on electricity to power life-support equipment in their homes, such as respirators or kidney dialysis machines. This program provides advance notice of scheduled outages and severe weather alerts to customers who depend on electricity for emergency medical and life-support equipment. To enroll contact Pepco's Customer Care representatives at 202-833-7500 (V). There is no charge for this service.
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Check out these websites that can assist
you in emergency planning:
| Be Ready. Make A Plan. |
| Download an emergency plan form, get your local emergency preparedness hotlines, and view "Get Ready" to guide you through the basic steps that you and your family need to take to be prepared for emergencies. |
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| Maryland Department of Disabilities |
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410-767-3647 (V)
1-800-637-4113 (TTY/Toll Free) |
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Website offers a wide range of information on emergency preparedness including news and announcements.
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| National Organization on Disability (NOD) |
| Emergency Preparedness Initiative (EPI) ensures that emergency managers address concerns and that people with disabilities are included in all levels of emergency preparedness - planning, response, and recovery. |
| National Weather Service |
| Find information on forecasts, observations, climate data and much more for your city and county as well as a list of Emergency Alert System (EAS) Event Codes. |
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| Pepco |
| Pepco's Storm Center for outages and emergency preparedness. |
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Seniors: Are Your Prepared? Emergencies and Your Medicines (PDF) |
| Brochure with information about making sure you have enough medications to last you in the event an emergency strikes. Includes a handy tear-off form so that you can list the different types of medications you are currently taking. |
| Tips for First Responders |
| The tips contain quick, easy-to-use procedures for assisting persons with disabilities during emergencies as well as during routine encounters. |
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Seniors
