The most vulnerable to major disasters ? senior citizens ? are generally the most unprepared, Baltimore County emergency planners told administrators of county nursing homes, assisted-living facilities and retirement communities Tuesday.
The county?s emergency management agency sponsored an all-day conference to coach the senior-living community on how to plan and practice for large-scale disasters like Hurricane Katrina, in which a disproportionate number of Louisiana?s seniors died. Event organizers said they believe the conference was a first of its kind in the nation, and Federal Emergency Management Agency officials attended to brainstorm for similar programs at the national level. In Louisiana, older adults accounted for 74 percent of Katrina-related deaths, though they make up only 12 percent of the population. But in Baltimore County, the senior population of 140,000 is larger than any other state jurisdiction and aging faster than most national jurisdictions, said emergency management spokeswoman Elise Armacost.
“If we have a full-scale catastrophe, our personnel are going to be taxed,” Armacost said.
Armacost said the Baltimore region?s most likely threat is a hazardous-material spill, based on the metropolitan area?s rails and roads network. Representatives from all 49 county nursing homes and about 110 assisted-living facilities attended the conference, said Arnold Eppel, director of the county?s Department on Aging. Eppel said that shortly after Katrina, County Executive Jim Smith asked him to review plans in place at area nursing homes. What Eppel found, he said, startled him.
“They were all using the same transportation provider, and believed 911 was the phone call to make,” he said.
Updated plans at senior-living facilities are required by 2008, under a state law passed earlier this year.
