Lifestyle   Wellness
By Lifestyle Team | 25 Nov. 2021

Severe Weather And Emergencies Preparedness For The Senior Loved Ones

prepare for emergency seniors

Severe weather conditions give life a halt. Whether it’s wildfire, an earthquake, a hurricane, or a tornado, these emergencies are becoming more frequent every year. Not only do they put a break to our day-to-day life but make our senior loved ones more vulnerable to multiple dangers.

It’s imperative to plan all the preventive measures in natural disasters, especially if you have elderly citizens to take care of. In extreme weather conditions, you may have to evacuate people from places in a short time. Planning and executing at the right moment, therefore, will make your aging seniors safe from the impending dangers.

So if you’re all geared up to prepare the elderly loved ones for emergencies and weather hazards, here are a few tips to get them through the disasters.

1. Proper Planning and Execution

This is the vital step of taking care of our aging loved ones. Proper planning ahead of natural disasters and severe weather conditions can protect our loved ones from hazards. Plan according to your needs and proceed accordingly. Check for any nearby shelter homes and the best means to reach them. Ensure proper maintenance of your home. Make your seniors familiar with all the planning and execution.

2. Spread Awareness Among the Elders

Yet, another important aspect is making the seniors aware of the dangers that lie ahead. They may not be aware of local weather conditions like any heatwave or winter storm coming towards them.

Since they may probably be uninformed about the adverse weather conditions, it becomes the duty of the caretakers to keep them well-informed. Continue checking in to ensure that the elders are aware of any probable danger and guide them to take appropriate action.

3. Keep the Communication Plan Ready

Make a list of the contact numbers you can use in an emergency. Select a person who can check up on you in case of an emergency. Contact your neighbors and create a check-in structure mutually. Enlist the details of your family members along with contact number and handover to your neighbors. If you reside far away from your loved ones, keep in touch and morally support them through calls.

If you’re staying with your loved ones, keep friends, neighbors, and acquaintances updated about your well-being. Also, let them know about your evacuation plans in case of an emergency.

4. Be Accountable for Your Loved Ones

Not all elderly loved ones live independently. They may be living in shelter homes or senior housing. It’s your responsibility to keep an update from the management of the facility.

Is the shelter safely located? Have they got enough stock of essentials? Is the transport system adequate to handle any emergency? Not all such facilities provide all kinds of preparedness for any disaster. Be accountable and keep yourself updated on the vigilance of the shelter homes.

5. Keep Emergency Supply Equipment Ready

The next tip to ensure the safety of elders is to keep an emergency kit handy. After you’ve planned for the emergencies, the next step is to collect all the essentials. It should have an adequate amount of goods to be comfortable until help from the local bodies arrives.

Your emergency kit may contain food supplies, water, spare batteries, flashlight, first-aid box, etc. Furthermore, you can add extra clothes, sleeping bags, blankets, and rain gear.

For senior people, medication, medical equipment like hearing aids, spare glasses, and medical documents have to be added to the emergency survival kit.

6. Draft an Evacuation sketch

It’s also one of the most crucial aspects of preparing for any weather hazard or urgent situation. Evacuating your home can be a challenging task if you’ve senior citizens at home.

If you’re far away from your loved ones and if they cannot drive, plan for their pick-up. Keep them well informed about the person who will pick them up. For elders, always pick a location having many routes.

7. Prepare Your Home

It indeed is the ultimate solution to safeguard senior people in your home. Prepare your homes for the upcoming dangers so that they can be a place of refuge.

Refilling the heating fuel, renewing the insulation, sealing the doors, keeping the firewood handy are some of the tips to weatherproof your home. The timely preparation of your home can ensure a safe environment for your family.

Final Thought

Severe weather conditions like heat waves, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc., and emergencies are terrifying, and for senior citizens. These natural disasters are even more precarious. But the loved ones can be saved from these hazards with proper planning, reviewing the plan, preparation, and support from the local network like relatives, neighbors, and friends. The more our seniors can withstand the danger, the more our communities become better places to live.