860.265.4427Recent days, weeks and months have shown us that extreme weather is here to stay. Between staggering rain storms dropping inches of rain at a time on towns that become flooded and wildfires blanketing parts of the United States with smoke, we have seen the dangerous impact that weather patterns can have on our communities.
As we read news stories and see pictures online we should also make sure that we are considering the impacts of these events on those who are most vulnerable among us. In particular, if you are the caregiver for someone who is aging in place or just have someone in your life who is aging in place you should be thinking about how these events impact her/him and what ways you can be proactive in making sure that an extreme weather event does not cause your loved one harm.
While there is very little that you can do to stop an extreme weather event, there are a number of things you can do to make sure that the impact of these events on your loved one is limited. Taking a few steps before something drastic happens is always the best way to protect against the worst thing happening. Here are some steps you can take today to get your loved one prepared to ride out any extreme weather activity that may hit her/his home.
1.) Prepare an emergency kit. Emergency kits take all types of forms and shapes, but they should include everything your loved one needs to survive for a few hours without the bare necessities. You should consider including things like bottled water, non-perishable food, batteries and first-aid essentials. An emergency kit is a good thing to have for anyone, at any stage of life, but especially someone who may be living independently who will be facing an extreme weather event alone. To get yourself started with an emergency kit, you can go here.
2.) Provide a way for your loved one to reach out to emergency personnel to call for help. While many people now have cellphones which can facilitate the outreach to emergency response personnel there are certainly apps and functions on modern cellphones that will make it easier to get help in the event of an emergency. Things like fall detection or the ability to dial 911 with just the tap of a button on your phone can make contact emergency services easier for your loved one. In preparation of extreme weather conditions you should spend some time with your loved one setting up her/his phone to make sure all of this new technology is available and they are aware of how to use it so they can quickly get help if it is needed.
3.) Develop an evacuation plan. In extreme weather conditions there may be no other option but to leave your home and get to a place that is out of harm’s way. While this may not be the preferable way to handle advancing weather conditions, it may be the safest thing to do. Before weather is predicted you should talk about this with your loved one and make a plan for how she/he will be transported to a safer location if extreme weather conditions are forming. You should also make sure you have some sort of plan as to when this evacuation will be required so you are not arguing about the plan in the moment.
It is hard to think about extreme weather and its impact on the health and well-being of our loved ones who are aging in place, but it is necessary. Making a plan and thinking ahead will allow you to rest easy knowing that those in your life that are living independently can either weather a storm or have a plan to avoid the storm all together and then get back to their independent life as soon as possible.
Once you’ve made a plan to handle extreme weather conditions you should revisit it on an annual basis and if an extreme weather event does happen to your loved one, you should look at what worked well and what might need to be tweaked in the event that another issue were to arise.
