Natural Disasters: The Aftermath for Seniors

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With a series of recurring natural disasters such as floods, fires, earthquakes, and tornadoes becoming more three times frequent, it is essential to understand how we can best serve and help seniors during and after a national disaster.


Recent events have shown that older adults are particularly vulnerable, especially if they need ongoing health care. Such disasters can limit or permanently close access to essential Pharmacy locations, and displace seniors out of nursing homes. For example, according to New York City’s Hurricane Sandy Retrospective Analysis during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, over 31 nursing homes closed, leaving more than 4,500 residents in need of emergency assistance. These events can lead to seniors being left out in the cold once the immediate aid is over. Currently, there is no centralized system for collecting, reporting and sharing data on after-disaster-care for any demographic. This lack of data makes it hard to reflect and adjust to help better serve community members.

So, the big question is how can we adjust to better serve elderly community members during these events? First, we must establish a way of collecting data to clearly demonstrate how these disasters affect vulnerable populations in impacted areas. This data will help researchers understand where we are doing well, and what we need to improve on to better serve. Once we establish a substantial amount of data, we can continuously rely on case studies and after-action reviews to further improve future disaster responses.      
Sources:
"HURRICANE SANDY RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS."
NYC.GOV. http://www.nyc.gov/html/oem/downloads/pdf/3.12_sandy_public_review_draft.pdf
Additional Resources:
https://youtu.be/h2-qgKLTOCU


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