Hard of Hearing People in Times of Crisis and Emergencies CHHA-AMEC/IFHOH Conference Vancouver, Canada July 4, 2008 Lise Hamlin Director of Public Policy & State Development Hearing Loss Association of America

Agenda 1.Emergencies, Disasters & People with Hearing Loss: Stating the Problem 2. 9/11 & Hurricane Katrinia: Lessons Learned 3. Working on Solutions 4. Partnering for Success 5. Questions?

Emergencies, Disasters & People with Hearing Loss: The Problem Lack of consumer preparedness Lack of communication access Lack of understanding by emergency personnel regarding communication barriers & solutions Lack of understanding by consumers of responsibilities of responders

Recent Disasters  Indian Ocean Earthquake & Tsunami, December 26, ,000 died in 11 countries  Myanmar/Burma Cyclone, May, ,000 died  China earthquake, May, ,000 dead or missing, 5 million homes lost

Lessons Learned 9/11 Hurricane Katrina

Emergencies, Disasters & People with Hearing Loss: The Problem Stating the Obvious: The time to solve communication issues is not in the middle of an emergency or a disaster

Lessons Learned Consumer Preparedness?  Denying that disasters can and will happen to them  Relying on alerts that may or may not work  Expecting to be rescued by responders  Expecting accessible, animal-friendly shelters  Expecting to be able to get important news after the event

Lessons Learned Alerting?  Captioning or other alerts before the event Television often did not have captioning Text alerts were not available  Communication break down during the event Landline & cell phones went down during Katrina

Lessons Learned Accessible Shelters?  Identifying individuals with disabilities  Assuming individuals could hear  Making it difficult for volunteers to enter  Making no attempt to provide communication access

Lessons Learned Recovery?  Captioning of post-event information  Accessing government recovery programs  Availability of accessible post-event hot lines

Working on Solutions: Individual Preparedness  Planning for emergencies Sheltering in place or evacuating Creating a support network, Discussing meeting places  Making emergency kits Home, work and “Go” kits  Planning for recovery Organizing papers, finances

Basic Emergency Kits Food Water First Aid Radio

Working on Solutions: Accessible Emergency Kits  Text Enabled Cell Phone, PDA, pager, batteries  External Phone Amplifier, batteries  Portable TTY, batteries  Personal Assistive Listening Device, batteries  Hearing Aid and/or CI batteries

Working on Solutions: Accessible Emergency Kits  Portable Radio, batteries  Portable Captioned TV, batteries and/or car adaptor  Glow stick or necklaces  Extra Pair of Eye Glasses …access to cash!

Working on Solutions: Plans for Evacuation Planning for medication needs: extra scripts, refrigeration Planning for self-evacuation, not rescue

Working on Solutions Pets & Service Animals Finding pet-friendly, safe haven for pets in advance: hotels, shelters, friends, family Keeping a pet emergency kit: include food, water, ID, medications, medical records, name of vets, pictures Ensuring service animals have their own emergency kits

Individual Preparedness Fire Emergencies In 2005, US Fire Departments responded to an estimated 1,602,000 fires causing:  3,675 civilian deaths  17,925 injuries  87 firefighter deaths  80,100 firefighter injuries NFPA, “An Overview of the US Fire Problem”

Working on Solutions Accessible Fire Alerts  Visual  Tactile  Personal receivers  Passive systems - sprinklers

Emerging Technology for Fire Alerts  Low frequency/multiple frequency alerts  Interconnected alerts  Battery back up for alerts

Working on Solutions: Accessible Emergency Alerts: TV  Emergency Managers depend on Television  US Federal Communication Commission (FCC) regulates access to emergency broadcasts Audible emergency information provided must also be visual: graphics, crawls or captioning  However only applies to TV’s large than 13”

Working on Solutions: Consumer Complaints  In 2005, the FCC issued Notices against 8 television stations for a total of $143,000: San Diego, CA: Wildfires Washington, DC: Tornado Ft. Myers/Naples, FL: Hurricane Charley  Results: settlement, increased access

Working on Solutions: Registering for Text Alerts  States, localities, colleges and some federal agencies provide registries for local text alerts:  Local news stations provide registries for breaking alerts via , such as:

Working on Solutions: Accessible NOAA Alerts  National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Weather Service (NWS) Alerts  24 hour weather & emergency alerts  Some weather radios: visual &/or tactile alerts  Visit

Working on Solutions: Accessible Phone Alerts “Reverse 9-1-1”  Sends out a message to targeted communities in emergencies  Should repeat messages  Should be TTY compatible

Working on Solutions: Accessible Emerging Technology  Web streaming - with captions and/or interpreters  Fully text radios  Fully text NOAA radios

Working on Solutions: Sheltering  Advocating for communication-accessible shelters  Ensuring people with hearing loss are identified upon entering  Ensuring volunteers knowledgeable about hearing loss are credentialed

Working on Solutions: Recovery  Ensuring government recovery services are accessible  Ensuring post-event hotlines, information, TV broadcasts are all accessible

Partnering for Solutions  Local government agency advisory boards  American Red Cross  CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams)  VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters)

Hard of Hearing People in Times of Crisis & Emergencies Lise Hamlin Hearing Loss Association of America 7910 Woodmont Avenue Bethesda, MD