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Senior Politics

Aging Committee Tries Again at Learning How to Protect Seniors in Disasters

Homeland Security official outlines major issues faced after Katrina

May 19, 2006 – Yesterday, the Senate Special Committee on Aging held it's second hearing pertaining to questions of safety for senior citizens during natural disasters, like Hurricane Katrina. The committee heard from five witnesses, including Dan Sutherland of Homeland Security, who discussed the major problems for older Americans hit by Katrina.

Sutherland said the major issues were:

  1. Lack of durable medical equipment
  2. Evacuation problems
  3. Lack of access to life-sustaining medications
  4. Lack of Shelters
  5. Eventually, accessible housing became the largest issue

(Links to all the presentations are below news report.)

Chairman Gordon H. Smith (R-Oregon) noted in his opening remarks that the committee last October held a hearing entitled "Preparing Early, Acting Quickly: Meeting the Needs of Older Americans During A Disaster."

"A key lesson that came out of our hearing was that the government at all levels must do more to ensure the health and safety of older Americans during a disaster," he said.

"Many in this population are extremely vulnerable and it is the government’s responsibility to make certain that adequate steps have been taken to identify those in need, evacuate seniors to a safe place and provide appropriate care once displaced."

He said the October hearing also pointed out other substantial issues that still needed to be addressed.

"Issues of specific concern are the double-counting of emergency services, trouble identifying individuals who have special needs and making sure that funding is flexible for an all-hazards approach to disaster preparedness," Smith said.

The title for yesterday's hearing was “Caring for Seniors in a National Emergency: Can We Do Better?”

Sutherland, who is with the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties of the Department of Homeland Security, serves as Chair of the Interagency Coordinating Council on Emergency Preparedness and Individuals with Disabilities.

Following are his comments on the major issues his agency found with Katrina.

Major Issues as a Result of the Hurricanes

Let me take a few minutes to identify for you the major issues that seniors and the disability community in the Gulf Coast region faced.

• The availability of durable medical equipment was a major issue.

We had dozens of calls on this point - wheelchairs, hearing aids, crutches, walkers and so many other kinds of equipment had been lost in the evacuation. For example, at the New Orleans airport, there were dozens of expensive, customized wheelchairs that had been left. In the chaos of that evacuation, people had been pulled out of the wheelchairs and placed quickly onto the next available airplane.

As a federal Council, we were able to make a dent on some of these issues. For example, we were able to facilitate the delivery of two truckloads of durable medical equipment that several disability advocacy organizations had accumulated. We were also able to help recover many of the wheelchairs at the New Orleans airport.

• Evacuation was a major issue.

There were many seniors who lived in institutional settings, and experienced great difficulties in evacuating. People who use wheelchairs or walkers often had harrowing experiences.

The Kaiser Family Foundation took a poll of people from New Orleans who were evacuated to the Astrodome, asking: "Which of these was the biggest reason you did not leave?" Twenty-two percent of the respondents said, "I was physically unable to leave." In addition, 23% said, "I had to care for someone who was physically unable to leave." Those two figures together constitute 45% of the people who had to be evacuated from New Orleans.

• Access to life-sustaining medications was a major issue.

People had to evacuate without adequate supplies of insulin, heart medicines, drugs for epilepsy, medicines to control various mental illnesses, and so on. The Council’s Incident Management Team received calls about pharmacies in Texas and Alabama and other states not accepting Medicaid cards from Louisiana.

One of the leaders of our Interagency Council is Dr. Peg Giannini, who leads the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Disability Policy. Dr. Giannini was able to go to the leadership of the Medicaid program, who issued immediate guidance advising pharmacies that Medicaid would reimburse for expenses from out-of-state cards.

• Shelters were a major issue.

As the days passed, we began to receive calls about shelters not being prepared for seniors and the disability community. The National Organization on Disability sent a team to the area in the weeks after Katrina to survey the shelters. Their work documented the problem, and I encourage you to read their report at www.nod.org. Take, for example, their conclusions about how prepared shelters were for people who are hard of hearing or deaf:

 ● Less than 30% of shelters had access to American Sign Language interpreters
 ● 80% did not have TTYs (that is, teletypewriters)
 ● 60% did not have TVs with open caption capability
 ● Only 56% had areas where oral announcements were posted.
    NOD concluded: "This meant that the deaf or hard of hearing had no access to the vital flow of information." Our Council is working with leaders of the American Red Cross to improve the performance of shelters with regard to people with disabilities.

• Eventually, accessible housing became the largest issue we faced.

We began to deal with the fact that the mobile homes were not accessible -- that is, a person with significant mobility impairments could not get into the front door. And once there, he or she might not be able to reach the cabinets or the faucets, or get into the bathroom or the bedrooms.

Secretary Chertoff directed us to send an expert on disability issues to serve on Admiral Allen's staff in Baton Rouge, and another to serve on Admiral Hereth's staff in Austin. In Baton Rouge, our expert was able to work with colleagues from HUD and the Department of Justice, including an architect who specializes in accessibility issues, to look at the specs for the manufactured homes being provided, and at the sites for the new temporary communities being built.

This Committee should be aware of one critical point: hundreds and probably thousands of people with disabilities were evacuated to nursing homes. It is completely unacceptable for people to stay in these institutionalized settings when they could be living in their own homes, leading independent lives. It is expensive to us as a country to have people who could live on their own instead living in a costly institutional setting.

I would also note that there is a strong directive from the President of the United States (see Executive Order 13217). It is critical that we ensure there are accessible housing options because people should be able to live in their own home, take a job, attend church, and get involved in community affairs. As President Bush said soon after signing an Executive Order on community living, “[This] Executive Order will increase freedom for people with disabilities. It is compassionate. It is needed. And it is now the official policy of my Administration. Americans must have the opportunity to live independently, work productively and participate fully in community life.”

Conclusion

Because of the commitment of the leadership of our Department, the energy of our partners on the Interagency Council, the insights being developed as a result of the National Plan Review, and the lessons we have learned from Katrina, we are very optimistic that substantive and concrete improvements will be seen in the emergency preparedness, response and recovery system as it relates to seniors and people with disabilities.

Presenters and links to statements:

Webcast: Click here to view hearing

Committee Web Page on Hearing – click here

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