Registration of Special Needs People

By Joseph Parish

We have countless people within our Delmarva Peninsula that have special requirements and needs. As responsible citizens it is our duties to ensure that during periods of emergencies these people are suitably cared for.

I would like to propose that in conjunction with the Delaware Emergency Preparedness personnel, FEMA and the Homeland Security Office that we establish and setup a system whereby these people could be checked on in the event of an emergency situation. Our Public Health Department could help drastic as they are able to identify and perhaps pass information to these people letting them know that we are here and willing to help them in times of crisis. All they need to do is notify us.

In order to serve all our people properly it is important to register these special needs population with our group. This allows all our personnel to better plan, serve, prepare and equip to assist them.

We can also use some extra hands in resolving this problem so if you are so inclined to assist us please let me know so arrangements can be made to get you informed and trained properly. We will shortly come out with a form that can be filled out to help locate these people and to plan sufficiently during exercises. This information will tend to assist us greatly in the event we experience an area emergency which may perhaps require evacuation or potential sheltering in place. These forms will help us in determining which of our volunteers we would send to check on the people that have these special needs.

A voluntary registration promotion will be setup during the Seaford Delaware Riverfeast. The Delmarva Survival Training will be hosting a booth at this event. At the booth we will be distributing literature relating to disaster preparations and at the same time we will be taking applications for this proposed program for those special needs people that we can possible help in an emergency. If you are in the Delmarva area of influence and know of additional activities in your immediate vicinity please let us know so we can set up similar booths at your location.

All too often during times of crisis those people that have special needs can be forgotten. We do not want this to happen in our area. In the event of any sort of disaster we would like to check on all those people who have register with us so that we can ensure that they are ready to evacuate if necessary, prepared to shelter in place or have all the required medications that they may need.

Copyright @ 2009 Joseph Parish