Natural Disasters and Vulnerable People

-
While natural disasters can be detrimental to all people around the world, they often hit vulnerable people the hardest. Looking into the past, there are many natural disasters that support this statement. For example, during Hurricane Katrina, 71% of the deaths involved people above the age of 60 years old. Due to physical impairments and/or cognitive limitations, the elderly are often unable to get themselves to safety in a disaster without help from others.


Seniors often require access to specific medications or assistance. In the event of a natural disaster, these needs are harder to fulfill. On average, seniors take around 5 different prescriptions. Loss of access to pharmacies in the case of an emergency could put an elderly person’s life at risk. Loss of electricity can be detrimental if a person requires oxygen or use of any sort of electrical device.

Also, older people are often slow or resistant to evacuating. Home is a safe place for many people, especially most elderly. Trends show that elderly people would rather stay at home even in the face of disaster because they are resistant to change. Even if they are willing to relocate, they may not be as able to move quickly enough to reach safety in time.

There are some things we can do to help. Everyone can work to come up with emergency plans with vulnerable people around them to make sure everyone has a plan in the face of disaster. Community emergency drills are also important. Many communities don’t put the time or money into doing regular drills even though this could potentially save lives in the future. We need to all work together to make sure everyone has an idea of what they would do in the event of disaster, especially vulnerable people.

Read more:
https://www.carecentrix.com/blog/caring-elderly-natural-disasters

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Domestic Violence within the Homeless Community

-
Image
  Domestic Violence within the Homeless Community Source: Unsplash The Facts                                                                                          According to  Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), 233,832 are people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in the United States. Of the 233,832, 50,767 are families with children.  Currently, 30% of homeless people are adult women.  (portlandoregon.gov)   Bradley Angle , which works to support survivors of  domestic violence , reported that 70% of domestic violence reports are from homeless women. ( www.kgw.com)  Homeless women are 1/3 of the fastest growing populations HUD homeless populations. ( portlandoregon.gov)   Specifically, in Por...
Read more

Understanding Homelessness

-
Image
  Source (American Addiction Centers)      Homelessness has a myriad of different reasons it can happen. The similarity between all scenarios in which a person is experiencing homelessness is that each person is human. A popular belief is that homelessness is a choice. People believe there is a set amount of circumstances that cause homelessness and that it is a choice not to fight to get out of those problems. The problems can range from mental health issues to drug addiction. There is no one size fits all, and it is not a choice.  Over the last few weeks, I have learned that there are many factors that can lead to homelessness. One big one that focuses on our class is how affordable housing, or the lack thereof, is a significant contributor to people not getting back on their feet. If you want to learn more about that subject and if affordable housing can help, click here.   This lack of affordable housing is a big roadblock for those trying to ove...
Read more

Air pollution caused by wildfires may increase risk of dementia

-
Image
  There are already more than 57 million dementia sufferers in the world, and by 2050, that figure is predicted to rise to 153 million. It is estimated that risk factors like exposure to air pollution account for up to 40% of these instances. Even when annual exposure was lower than the current EPA annual threshold of 12 micrograms per cubic meter of air (g/m3), the researchers discovered continuous evidence of a relationship between PM2.5 and dementia. The researchers discovered a 17% increase in risk for dementia for every 2 g/m3 increase in average yearly exposure to PM2.5, specifically among the studies using active case ascertainment. Despite the fact that the data was more sparse, they also discovered evidence supporting links between dementia and nitrogen oxide (5% increase in risk for every 10 g/m3 increase in yearly exposure) and nitrogen dioxide (2% increase in risk for every 10 g/m3 increase in annual exposure). According to a recent University of Michigan study, wildfi...
Read more