ATLANTA--Floridians are still cleaning up after Tropical Storm Fay. As of Friday, 700,000 Louisianans were still without power after Hurricane Gustav, and the federal government had issued a temporary waiver of Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP requirements to ensure that affected beneficiaries will get the services and equipment they need.
Those up and down the nation’s Eastern Seaboard were preparing for a hit from Tropical Storm Hanna; NASCAR postponed races in Richmond, Va., while in New York, the U.S. Open pushed back its Saturday matches until Sunday. And once again, residents and visitors in the Florida Keys had been asked to evacuate as Hurricane Ike, a fierce Category 4 storm, tracked an uncertain course that could threaten points along the Gulf Coast from Florida to Texas this week.
In the midst of this season’s alphabet soup of storms, government officials are reminding both health care providers and their patients with chronic illness and disability to be aware and prepared.
The Interagency Coordinating Council on Individuals with Disabilities and Emergency Preparedness offers the following list of Web sites for information and resources:
Current information on storms from the National Hurricane Center: www.nhc.noaa.gov
Information on emergency resources and activities in the following states:
- Louisiana: www.ohsep.louisiana.gov/default.htm
- Texas: www.txdps.state.tx.us/dem/pages/publicinformation.htm
- Mississippi: www.msema.org
- Alabama:http://ema.alabama.gov
- Florida: www.floridadisaster.org/index.asp
- Georgia: www.gema.state.ga.us
- South Carolina: www.sc.gov/Portal/Category/EMERGENCYMANAGEMENT
- North Carolina: http://www.nccrimecontrol.org/Index2.cfm?a=000003,000010
- Virginia: www.vdem.state.va.us
Information on hurricane preparedness: www.ready.gov/america/beinformed/hurricanes.html
Up-to-date tracking of weather events where you live: www.weather.gov
This disability preparedness site also provides information on how people with and without disabilities can prepare for an emergency, along with information for family members of, and service providers to, people with disabilities at www.disabilitypreparedness.gov/ppp/disabil.htm.
In addition, the site includes information for first responders to help them better prepare for serving people with disabilities at www.disabilitypreparedness.gov/emrscp/index.htm.