UD's Center for Disabilities Studies will hold an Emergency Preparedness Workshop from 6:30-8 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 22, including information on the All Ready Delaware website.

Oct. 22: Emergency Preparedness Workshop

An ounce of prevention: Emergency preparedness on tap at CDS

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1:30 p.m., Oct. 7, 2014--Last winter’s blizzards, this year’s floods and 2012’s Hurricane Sandy reminded Delawareans of their vulnerability to the elements and the need to prepare for emergencies.

For Delawareans with disabilities or chronic health conditions, preparing for those emergencies can present added challenges. Some may need to arrange for friends or caregivers to check up on them. Others may need to have an extra battery charger on hand for their wheelchair or hearing-aid.

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That’s why the University of Delaware’s Center for Disabilities Studies will hold an Emergency Preparedness Workshop on Wednesday, Oct. 22, from 6:30-8 p.m., in which it will showcase a new website that aims to help people with disabilities and chronic health conditions prepare for emergencies, and an app that is intended to help those who wish to assist people with disabilities in an emergency situation. 

At the workshop, which is open to the public, audience members will also learn how to develop their own emergency preparedness kit.

“In the past, emergency preparedness information for people with disabilities was very hard to find,” said Rochelle Brittingham, who has worked with CDS to develop the new All Ready Delaware website. “We wanted to have important information that people with disabilities need to know on one website.”

The website features interactive tools, downloadable apps and contacts for resources around the state. For example, the website “prompts you to think about things like whether a medicine needs to be chilled,” Brittingham said. If it does, you can plan to have a cooler and ice packs on hand, she said.

“Most (individual emergency) plans don’t go into that kind of detail,” added Phyllis Guinivan, director of the Emergency Preparedness for Individuals with Disabilities Project at the UD’s Center for Disabilities Studies.

Also at the workshop, delawaretips.org, a CDS-developed mobile web app for first responders and care givers, will be demonstrated. The web app groups information and Delaware-specific resources for many types of disabilities. “It gives tips, such as precautions about lifting people who have physical disabilities, and ways to get the attention of someone who is deaf in a chaotic environment,” said Guinivan.

Along with Guinivan and Brittingham, David Young, an adjunct professor in UD’s Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering, will lead the workshop. Young will demonstrate how to create an individualized emergency preparedness kit. A carefully created kit can help sustain a person for days during a crisis, Young said.

CDS is presenting this workshop in partnership with America’s PrepareAthon, a nationwide campaign to encourage Americans to better prepare for disasters. It will be held in Room 102 of the Delaware Biotechnology Institute, 15 Innovation Way, in Newark.

The evening workshop is being held for those who could not attend the center’s September Lunchtime Learning session on the same topic.

Register here or call Ben Szmidt at 302-831-2772. Requested accommodations will be provided. Those who attend are welcome to bring food.

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