The Audrain County Emergency Management Agency is creating a registry to assist people with special needs who may find it difficult to get to safety in the event of an emergency – and the participation of other local agencies is necessary to make it a success.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently awarded the county emergency management a $30,000 grant to pilot the special needs registry, and on Wednesday director Sarah Williams held an orientation meeting, to introduce the registry to other local emergency agencies.
"The time to get ready is now," Williams told the crowd. "When an emergency or disaster occurs, we should already know where our needs are."
The registry – which is a free, voluntary and confidential program – is designed to help those who may have difficulty during an evacuation because of physical or other limitations, or lack of transportation. Special needs also include conditions not addressed by traditional providers, such as frail elderly, individuals living in group or residential homes, hospice patients, the homebound, as well as those with acute or chronic conditions.
Signing up with the registry, Williams said, will help first responders make the best use of limited time, and resources by planning to help those with limited options for evacuation during an emergency. She estimates there may be as many as 2,000-3,000 residents in Audrain who currently meet this criteria.
"The registry will provide critical data for planning and response by emergency management and other agencies by creating standardized terminology for resource identification and planning thereby creating a composite database with 'real' meaning." Williams noted.
The database will contain "sanitized" information about individuals residing in Audrain County requiring assistance. Sanitized data means no name, no address, phone or other personal information will be released. Only a person's condition, type of disability, territory they live in is released.
This information will not be available to the public. It will only be shared with emergency response, human services and public health agencies to improve their ability to serve those in need.
Williams said the primary goal of this pilot project is to provide a countywide and ultimately statewide composite database of special needs and resources required for disaster response, utilizing 'sanitized' client data that is exported on a regular basis; while protecting registrants' privacy and meeting sustainability and accuracy goals of the agencies that will use the data for planning, preparedness and response activities.
The Audrain County Pilot Project will help build an interface between the new Innovative Disaster Evacuation Planning (InDEP©) Lite software it has and the original InDEP software. During the meeting, a representative from Innovative Data Systems in Warrensburg presented a power point presentation to further explain the mechanics of the program – which allows agencies to track special needs clients and shelter resources by location using state-of-the-art integrated mapping software.
"This is a pretty comprehensive program that allows people to register and counties to plan for disasters and emergencies," said IDS President Don Slone. "It's preparedness on a whole new scale. Not only will it identify the needs, it overlays, it maps, and corresponds with local utilities during an emergency or disaster, among other things.
"The magnitude of any disaster could be huge, so now is the time for everyone to get on board so we can quantify the problem, and determine accessibilities and what we're trying out."
The city of St. Louis saw the need two years ago for something like this Special Needs Registry and worked with InDEP to develop and test it in a metropolitan area. It has since been proven to be a "critical planning tool, as well as an excellent response tool in the event of a disaster," Williams said.
While the entire state stands to benefit from the improved planning and response capabilities the registry will provide, the needs and resources of a rural area such as Audrain County (and the greater portion of the state) are markedly different than those of the metro areas of St. Louis and Kansas City. So, it was proposed to pilot this software for a rural county, and in so doing, modify or change it to meet the more specific needs of a rural community. And, Audrain County was selected.
"So here we are with the goal of being a successful ‘pilot’ which will hopefully lead to application of this program statewide," Williams said. "I can't stress how important it is for local agencies to contact me and give their feedback. We need them on our radar, because our goal is to improve planning or response statewide."
Individuals, agencies and organizations will be able to begin the registration process with Audrain Emergency Man-agement on or around July 15. A Web page will be available next week for online registration; there also will be paper/hard copy registration available, as well as a number of live registration events at area locations, such as the Mexico Senior Center and the Laddonia Rural Fire Association. Agencies will receive individual hands-on attention from the software company to install and learn the simple data import/export software and its process.
"There is no substitute for personal preparation," Williams said, "It is important for all residents to make individual plans and preparations for their care and safety in an emergency."
The original grant runs through Aug. 9. However, with full participation from Audrain County's various agencies and organizations, once the software is in place, it will continue to be available and in use.
"This is why we urge area agencies, residential care facilities, group homes, day cares, service agencies and others to contact us and work with us to get this program set up with their individual data bases," Williams said. "So, once we move past August 9th, we will be able to continue to offer this valuable planning and response tool well into the future.
"We understand that a critical factor in the success of this program is maintaining a current and accurate data base; which this grant will allow us to do well past August 9th as long as we have these agencies and organizations on line with us prior to that deadline."
Williams added that Audrain County Emergency Manage-ment Agency "fully intends to continue this project, and is actively seeking additional funding to continue and expand this project and all the possibilities it holds."
For more information about the program, visit the Audrain County Emergency Manage-ment Agency at 101 N. Jefferson, Room 10, in Mexico, or call (573) 473-5893.