Image of DCAB Logo
State of Hawaii
Aug/Sept 2015
  Issue 44
Waimanalo CPOD Volunteers
Emergency Preparedness E-News

for People with Disabilities and other Access and Functional Needs
DCAB Logo Recent Activities
 

During Makani Pahili 2015, the Disability and Communication Access Board (DCAB) was involved with recruiting volunteers with disabilities to provide feedback to the American Red Cross (ARC) as to how to set up and run a community point of distribution (CPOD). This exercise was conducted on June 6, 2015 at two sites on Oahu. One was at the Waimanalo District Park and the other was in Ewa Beach at the Mahiko District Park.

DCAB extends our thanks to all the volunteers who participated (especially Access to Independence who had volunteers at both sites), and a few who included family members. Your time and effort to learn about what a CPOD is and to provide feedback about how to set one up at a location and the types of things that should be included for distribution to the community was invaluable.

After a disaster, such as a hurricane or tsunami, a CPOD may be established at locations to provide food and water and other things that people may need after their own food and water have been used up, and stores are not open yet for people to obtain more supplies. So each group looked at their site, and planned how the site would be set up for traffic to come in and go out of the location so people could get supplies. The Waimanalo site participants identified one good entrance for cars to drive through to pick up items exit, and a second different entrance and exit for people who would enter by walking or biking to pick up supplies. Separate entrances were planned based on safety issues related to how people arrived at the site.

This was a totally new experience for the groups, because the ARC has not set up CPODs on Oahu before. A few weeks after the exercise, the ARC sponsored a workshop titled "CPODs 101" as an exercise follow up. More work needs to be done to develop CPODs and determine which agency will be responsible for establishing and running a CPOD, if and when it is necessary. More information about how agencies such as the ARC and local communities address CPODs is forthcoming. They are an essential part of returning communities back to normal after a disaster.

September is National Preparedness Month. The next newsletter will begin with information covering that issue with some helpful tips related how to prepare ourselves for an emergency.

   

Aloha,

 

Debbie Jackson
Planner
In This Issue

ADA's 25th Anniversary 

 

L-197 FEMA Course 

 

Smart911 

 

CERT Experience

 

Local Disaster Readiness Fairs

 

DCAB Workshop 

  

Join our Mailing List!
Quick Links
ADAADA's 25th Anniversary
US DOJ Logo
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990 making July 26, 2015 the 25th anniversary. The ADA is a fundamental guiding principle in providing accessible services and facilities to the community. Recently, there have been several lawsuits settled regarding accessibility of emergency evacuation shelters around the country. Hawaii needs to be proactive in our approach to surveying and planning how to make all of our evacuation shelters accessible to people with disabilities and others with access and functional needs.
 
When conducting a survey, the state and county will have to work collaboratively and to coordinate efforts to be in communication about what needs to be done, what has been done, and how to plan and request funding from the Legislature to achieve the end results of having all designated shelters accessible to the whole community.

Let's begin the next quarter century with this goal in mind: "Everyone needing to go to an evacuation center will have equal access to the facility being used."
L0197L-197 FEMA Course
Roxiey Crawford, Jessica Mitchell, Marcie Roth
Roxann Crawford, Jessica Mitchell, and Marcie Roth
The Pacific Area Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was very generous in sponsoring the L-197 course titled "Integrating Access and Functional Needs into Emergency Planning." FEMA's Office of Disability Integration (ODIC) sponsored a third trainer who attended to complete the training team.

Prior to the beginning of the course, Ms. Roth met with several community forums with various groups including the Self Advocacy Advisory Council (SAAC), Interagency Action Plan's Emergency Preparedness Working Group, and the Department of Health's Mass Care Working Group. Each meeting included representatives from the disability community, state and county agencies, persons with disabilities' advocacy groups and service providers, as well as emergency managers. It was a unique opportunity for each group to share their perspectives with Ms. Roth about what is happening in Hawaii to include people with disabilities and others with access and functional needs into emergency planning.
 
Marcie Roth, Director of ODIC along with Jessica Mitchell, Disability Integration Specialist with ODIC in Chicago and Roxann Crawford co-lead the course on August 19 and 20, 2015. Twenty-five (25) participants learned about who people with access and functional needs are, and how they can be integrated in formulating emergency plans that will be inclusive of the whole community.

The course content included six (6) units covering topics such as Course Themes and Definitions, Introduction to Access and Functional Needs, Emergency Plans and the Whole Community, Communication Access Providers and Resources, Evacuation and Transportation, Jurisdictional Plans, Sheltering and Support Services, Inclusive Practices, and a tabletop activity.

A special mahalo to FEMA and the trainers who traveled to Hawaii and provided this special course to our community. The work you do to include the whole community in emergency management and planning is greatly appreciated!
Smart911Smart911
HPD Logo
The City and County of Honolulu's Police Department launched a new program called Smart911 on September 9, 2015. This is a free service that allows the public to provide information first responders may need to know in case of an emergency.
 
To sign up, users can create an online profile on the Smart911 website. The URL is https:www.smart911.com/. The user can input information related to their own health by including medical conditions, disabilities or allergies. Family members photographs and even pet information can be uploaded. These profiles are stored in a Smart911 database with security features and will only be used in the event of an emergency.

Smart911 is tool that can be used to make our community a safer place to live and work. The database information will also be available to other locations, if they participate in the Smart911 system. This may be helpful if you are traveling and have an emergency while you are away from home.

Everyone is encouraged to sign up for the new service. You can click on the URL provided in the second paragraph or on the words Smart 911, also in the first line of the second paragraph.

DCAB acknowledges the Honolulu Police Department for investing in Smart911 to improve access to services for the community on Oahu. Neighbor Island police departments may look to the success of the program on Oahu to determine whether or not to include it in their counties.
CERTCERT Experience
Ed Chevy with CERT Backpack
By Ed Chevy

The City and County of Honolulu, Department of Emergency Management (DEM) has a training called the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). In January, I completed the training and became a certified member of CERT. This is a summary of my experience going through the training.
 
Working with me as a deaf person was DEM's first opportunity to train a deaf person who used ASL to communicate. My first day of training reminded me of a cowboy at a rodeo. I felt as if I were riding a bull and trying not to fall off and to complete my eight-second ride. The CERT trainers were like the bull that kept bucking, but I held on and had a successful ride.
 
Being the only participant using ASL and interpreters to understand and learn what was taught at the CERT workshops made me feel isolated. Communicating directly with people in the class and with the trainers is very important in building relationships. I appreciate the interpreters who worked with CERT and myself to allow me to complete the training and exercise. I felt that this experience was also eye-opening for the CERT trainers to learn how to work with me as a deaf person, but also that they need to learn more about deaf culture and working with deaf people during a crisis.
 
The hands-on exercise on the final day of the training was an excellent chance for all of us to learn how to work together. The group discussions involved how to work with deaf victims without an interpreter. I educated the trainers by explaining that there are many natural signs they could already use to communicate with deaf people without using an interpreter. Hopefully this will be a beginning for more collaboration and team building between the deaf community and first responders.
 
I would like to thank all the CERT trainers during the course. They were all very composed and willing to learn. They are wonderful people and I was impressed with them. They were very open and supportive, and through this experience they became aware of the importance of including people with disabilities in the CERT training. It reminded me of the Boy Scout motto: BE PREPARED. We all need to be prepared for emergencies and doing what we can to be ready for any emergency that arises. Everyone needs to be prepared whether or not you have a disability.
 
The CERT training is a good starting point. It is crucial for everyone to have a safety plan. It is not possible to plan for every eventuality that may occur, but we must remember that preparation is the key to saving lives if a disaster strikes. Being prepared for a disaster is important, and perhaps even more for people with disabilities because we need to make plans that may include more options. I believe we need to have a functioning team that continues and keeps on training. From my personal experience, I invite you to take the CERT training and learn how to support your community during a disaster.

Contact the City and County of Honolulu's Department of Emergency Management at (808) 723-8960 or DEM@honolulu.gov for more information about a CERT training near you. If you are in another County, contact your local Civil Defense Agency to learn more about the CERT training. 
FairsLocal Disaster Readiness Fairs
Plastic bin with food and water
During this very busy hurricane season, the community has been quite fortunate to have disaster readiness fairs offered throughout the community.
 
The Disability and Communication Access Board (DCAB) hosted an exhibit booth at various summer and fall Disaster Readiness Fairs:

June 20, 2015   Waimanalo Disaster Resilience and Preparedness Fair
July 25, 2015    Ready 2 React at Pearlridge Uptown
Sept. 5, 2015    Get Ready Ewa Beach at Ewa Makai Middle School Cafeteria
Sept. 12, 2015  Kailua's Disaster Preparedness Fair at Long's Parking Garage (cancelled)
Oct. 24, 2015    Mililani Disaster Preparedness Fair at Mililani High School Cafeteria

A few of our booths were a combined community outreach effort featuring peer trainers, Bathey Fong and Timothy Renken, from Feeling Safe, Being Safe, Access to Independence and DCAB. Mahalo to the agencies and volunteers who assisted with staffing the booth and educating the community about the needs of people with disabilities during a disaster or emergency and the importance of including everyone in our planning efforts!
DCABDCAB Workshop
Color State Seal of Hawaii
The Disability and Communication Access Board (DCAB) is conducting a workshop on October 5, 2015 titled "Surveying for Accessibility." The Department of Education (DOE) and Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (HI-EMA) has coordinated efforts with DCAB to allow the workshop to be held at McKinley High School in Honolulu.
 
The workshop is a "hands-on" training on how to survey an evacuation site for accessibility. The areas to be covered during the training are the areas emergency management personnel will need to survey when assessing a site that will be used as an emergency evacuation site. These are some of the same areas required to be accessible when the DOE develops ADA Transition Plans and Architectural Barrier Removal (ABR) Projects. The City and County of Honolulu, Department of Emergency Management (DEM) is responsible for shelter selection during an emergency.

Areas to be surveyed during the workshop will include:
  • Pedestrian route from a bus stop and from the boundary of the site to an accessible entrance;
  • Accessible parking, curb ramp and route to a building entrance (including walkways, accessible ramp and protruding objects);
  • Accessible building entrances (gymnasium, cafeteria and classroom), interior door (office/meeting room), door thresholds and interior routes;
  • Accessible toilet rooms and bathing rooms, lockers and benches; and
  • Accessible dining table/picnic tables.

The workshop is from 8:30 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. and will convene in the McKinley High School Adult Education Building, Andy Nii Conference Room. After a brief meeting, we will break into groups at various sites around campus. Space is limited.

 

Contact Laurie Palenske or Mona Higa at DCAB to register at (808) 586-8121. There is no cost for the workshop. State and County Departments and agencies are encouraged to send individuals who may be responsible for assessing an evacuation site for accessibility, developing an ADA Transition Plan or ABR project. 
Contact Information:                                                                      
 
 Image of color State Seal of Hawaii
Disability and Communication Access Board                                    
       
919 Ala Moana Blvd., Room 101
Honolulu, HI 96814
Phone: (808) 586-8121 (V/TTY)
FAX: (808) 586-8129
E-mail:  DCAB General Delivery
Website: DCAB Home Page

Call toll free from Neighbor Islands:
County of Hawaii:  (808) 974-4000, ext. 6-8121#
County of Kauai:   (808) 274-3141, ext. 6-8121#
County of Maui:    (808) 984-2400, ext. 6-8121#
Molokai & Lanai:   1-800-468-4644, ext. 6-8121#