Special Needs Shelter
Most people know that American Red Cross volunteers set up shelters for victims of disasters. However, some of these victims may have medical conditions beyond what the American Red Cross can provide. Health Departments across the country are responsible for setting up shelters for people who have medical conditions requiring assistance by a medical provider. These shelters are called Special Needs Shelters or Special Medical Needs Shelters. The Lexington-Fayette County Health Department and our Local American Red Cross chapter work together to plan for local shelters that will accommodate both groups.
Many people in our community have "special needs" but that does not mean they would be required to go to a Special Needs Shelter. Only people with medical conditions needing assistance or monitoring would go to the Special Needs Shelter. Local plans include having both types of shelters in the same location. This allows families to be near other family members that may need the additional assistance provided at a Special Needs Shelter.
The health department staff will not be able to manage and staff the shelter alone, so MRC members and the help they supply will be a wonderful asset the community. Tasks range from cooking meals, to setting up computers, to registering shelterees, to providing medical care, and many other variuos tasks in between. MRC members who attend "Intermediate" training receive detailed information about Special Needs shelters so they are better prepared to assist the community if a sheltering opportunity occurs.
Thursday, Feb. 05, 2009
Those with medical conditions found sanctuary at Dunbar
http://www.kentucky.com/787/story/683896.html
By Amy Wilson - awilson1@herald-leader.com
Timothy Baker's physical therapist was worried about her client. So on her way to find shelter and warmth at a motel, she and her husband stopped to check in on Baker and his wife, Ruth Ann. Finding them without heat and dressed in layers of clothing but still cold, she told them they couldn't stay in their apartment.
Next thing you know, she called the Salvation Army, which called the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department, which arranged for the therapist to take them immediately to the special-needs shelter at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School. There waiting for Timothy were a feeding tube, an oxygen machine and a suction tube.
And warmth.
"They were expecting us," says Ruth Ann Baker, 61, who in her haste to leave her house on Jan. 28 forgot her own medication.
No problem, said the public health nurse on duty, who promptly ordered diabetes meds from the health department and had someone retrieve them before Baker missed a dose.
The Bakers were two of 40 area residents who found more than shelter last week at Dunbar High School, where the health department was prepared to handle ice storm victims who might not otherwise have felt able to leave their homes because of a physical or mental disability.
No one knows the number of those who could have, or should have, taken advantage of the service, but stories abound of those who would have benefited when their home health care service plan faltered along with the power.
"We were prepared to handle so many more than we got," says one of the shelter unit leaders, public health nurse Michelle Marra. "But, believe me, we were busy and we were happy that we were able to give a very high level of care."
Every shift at the 24-hour shelter had at least three nurses on hand. The shelter was located with the general Red Cross shelter, so meals and showers were also provided.
Caregivers were also welcome in the special-care wing. "A daughter brought her parents. It was touching to see how well she was taking care of them," says Marra.
The special-needs shelter was something the health department had practiced a few times before and is ready for in case of any emergency, be it flooding, tornado, ice, whatever, says Kevin Hall, spokesman for the department.
This facility was set up Jan. 28 in the late morning. The first patient served was an Alzheimer's patient who police feared had been wandering in the cold for days. The Bakers were more typical patients, brought by family or friends or shuttled by the sheriff's office or police after neighbors had called, worried about their welfare.
The whole process was made so much easier for the patients, says Marra, because of "incredible cooperation between a unique set of people in our community."
Some patients were able to take their pets with them, have them vaccinated by a volunteer veterinarian and placed at Pet Suites in luxury accommodations during their owners' stays. All transportation to and from their homes during the day — to retrieve fresh clothing, for instance — was free, courtesy of LexTran's Wheels.
Regular checks of shelter inhabitants' homes to see whether power had been restored were done by Lexington police and the Fayette sheriff's office.
The shelters at Dunbar officially closed Sunday to accommodate the school reopening on Monday. Health department spokesman Hall says the number of those needing the shelter was dwindling as well. Only two patients remained that evening, and they were sent to hotels and visited by department nurses who took them medication and food.
The last patient was returned to his home Wednesday afternoon.
The Bakers had returned home Sunday after their lights came back on. Still, says Ruth Ann Baker, she has received a few phone calls from Marra checking up on the couple.
"She wants to know if we need anything else, if we're warm, if we have enough food."
They are fine now but, says Ruth Ann Baker, the shelter was "a lifesaver."
So, too, her husband's physical therapist.
Without them both, she says, "We would have froze to death."
Special-needs shelters are designed to care for people:
■ with medical needs that require a level of care and resources beyond basic first aid available in general shelters. This includes those who need oxygen, those who are dependent on others for eating, walking or using the toilet, those with high-risk pregnancy and those who are pregnant and at full-term.
■ with minor health/medical conditions that require observation, assessment and maintenance.
■ with contagious health conditions requiring minor precautions.
■ with chronic diseases needing assistance.
■ who need help with medication or vital-sign readings.
■ who would need assistance during evacuations and sheltering because of language barriers, hearing disorders, transportation issues and physical disabilities.
Source: Fayette County Health Department
Special Needs Shelter set-up for Twisted Bluegrass Exercise at NorthEast Christian Church on August 26 & 27, 2008
A note to Lexington Fayette County Health Department Staff regarding sheltering for Hurricane Gustav, September 3, 2008:
The end of August and beginning of September showcased so many reasons to be proud of our health department’s workers as efforts were made to open a special needs shelter to help Hurricane Gustav evacuees.
Many LFCHD employees have been working since 1 p.m. Friday, Aug. 29, when we opened the Department Operations Center (DOC) in the Training Room on the third floor of 650 Newtown Pike. We remained on alert for Lexington to take evacuees from New Orleans as Hurricane Gustav continued on its course to hit Louisiana Monday, Sept. 1.
The evacuees were flown in to Louisville and assessed at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center, and you have probably seen media coverage of this. In Lexington, we serve as support to Red Cross in their general emergency shelters with nurses and
clerical support staff to help with intake of the evacuees and determine if they have any health problems. Our environmentalists also inspect the shelters on a regular basis with regards to food safety, employee/evacuee safety, cleanliness, etc. Our epidemiology team helps assess any potential communicable disease/injury and other issues at the shelters. Had we received evacuees from Louisville and had any of them had chronic medical conditions, we would have opened a special needs shelter with our nurses, nurse practitioners and clerical support staff.
Lexington did not receive any evacuees, but Louisville took in almost, 1,500 folks. We sent an RN and a ARNP to help Louisville with its special needs shelter. Gustav moved faster than anticipated, and New Orleans changed the priority to medical evacuations from hospitals as the weekend ended. Our DOC closed at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 3, but we remain prepared to assist if called to action.
Our staff rose to the challenge this holiday weekend — they gave up their holiday plans and came in and did a tremendous amount of planning, put people on call for their shelter duty, worked on shelter set up, moved equipment and supplies to Centenary United Methodist Church (the first designated shelter) from the warehouse working with Fayette County Schools to secure a truck for the move, secured food for the staff working, inspected the shelter with Red Cross, participated in numerous meetings with Fayette County Emergency Management and numerous conference calls with Kentucky Department for Public Health and the list goes on.
This was a time for our health department to showcase what a great team we have working here, and it made me proud to be involved with such a great group of people. Thank you.
Melinda G. Rowe, MD
Commissioner of Health
Lexington Fayette Co. Health Dept.
