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A group of community leaders are working together on an educational effort to ensure that people with disabilities are safe in emergencies -- when they can become confused and disoriented, especially if their caregivers are unavailable or incapacitated.
It's a revival of an endeavor that gathered momentum over nearly a decade, until it came to a stop due to COVID-19, according to Maria Brandt, executive director of the ARC of Blair County.
The education effort involves people with disabilities and their caregivers and advocates, along with the first responders who help them in emergencies, according to Brandt and Blair County Emergency Management Director Mark Taylor.
Taylor initiated the restart this year by reaching out to the ARC, Brandt said.
Prior to COVID-19, there were separate trainings for people with disabilities and their families and then with first responders, then joint training sessions, Brandt said.
Joint trainings are likely to recommence soon, she said.
But first, the newly formed Persons With Disabilities Planning Committee will be meeting this week to digest the results of a recent agency survey, which should help give direction to its task, Brandt said.
"What is the number one concern," she asked. "Where should we start?"
The disability types included in the effort include physical, intellectual, mental, emotional and substance use-related, according to Brandt.
Organizations that may be involved include the ARC, social service agencies, school districts, libraries, hospitals -- along with emergency planners, fire and police departments and ambulance services, according to Brandt.
The need for special planning to deal with people with disabilities became clear after Hurricane Katrina and the 9/11 terrorist attack on New York, because people with disabilities were left behind inadvertently, Taylor said in 2017, after an emergency preparedness event.
Other situations also illustrate the necessity.
At a group home for people with intellectual disabilities in Texas, the residents' support person conducted regular fire drills, which required the residents to line up behind the support person, who would then lead them out the door, Brandt said.
When an actual fire occurred, however, the support person was overcome by smoke, she said.
The residents lined up at the door as they had been instructed, but because their leader was incapacitated, they remained there -- and died of smoke inhalation, Brandt said.
"(People with disabilities may) always believe someone will be there to help," Brandt said. "But in a true emergency, you can't count on that."
When a car accident incapacitates a support person, a person with intellectual disabilities or mental health issues can become frightened and react violently or inappropriately as first responders approach -- say by dashing out into traffic, Brandt said.
Such a possibility dictates that first responders be aware -- and take a different approach, according to Brandt.
It can help for first response vehicles to carry a box of "distraction" tools -- like stuffed animals or puzzles like Rubik's Cube -- that can be offered to people with disabilities to get their minds off distressing situations, she said.
In emergencies that require home evacuations, it's important for families of people with disabilities to have "go kits" -- prepared containers with items necessary for getting along elsewhere for several days, Taylor said.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.