1. Make sure that you personally have an Emergency Preparedness plan. The plan should cover any emergency whether it is natural (such as a hurricane), human-caused (such as a terrorist act), or a technology failure (such as a shut down of the service of electricity). In particular, your plan should address the most common types of emergency in your specific area. |
2. Your plan should include what to do if you must evacuate and what to do if you stay in your home or at your workplace. |
3. You should know the location of the closest health-care facility but be prepared to take care of your self. Health-care Facilities may be overwhelmed with injured person. |
4. Know the location of the nearest wheelchair-accessible emergency shelter. Know what services they may be able to provide you. Make sure that personnel at that shelter know of your existence in advance of a real emergency. |
5. Make sure that your caregivers, family, and friends know about your plan. Be sure that the local fire department, local police, county emergency personnel, and local utilities know of your location and your special needs. |
6. Have a portable disaster kit ready. It should include a basic first aid kit. It should include a flashlight and extra batteries, a whistle to blow if rescue personnel needs to locate you, and gloves that would enable you to wheel across debris and class. Printed information about your evacuation plans, emergency contact numbers, your necessary medications, numbers of family to contact, etc. should be in this kit. |
7. Have extra water and non-perishable food available in your home in the event that you are isolated and without electricity for any length of time. |
8. Make sure that you have a radio and know how to get emergency broadcasts. |
9. If you use a power wheelchair, a backup manual chair may be necessary since you might be unable to charge batteries. This is also important if you must be evacuated quickly. A folding manual chair has a much greater chance of staying with you than a power chair. |
| 10. Be prepared to tell rescue personnel how to properly transfer you. |