Whether you are s senior citizen yourself, a caregiver, or have a senior member in your family, it is essential to be fully prepared for such extreme events like floods. Many elderly people tend to have medical conditions that restrict their mobility or prevent them from acting fast in a disastrous situation. Helping seniors during the flood is one of today's primary matters, which unfortunately seems to be neglected.
However, according to the recent data, there are over 101 million senior citizens in Europe and over 55 million in the United States. 1 in 5 elder people today live alone due to being childless or due to some other reasons. Others live in special care facilities or with their families.
With floods happening more and more often today, people may get exposed to the disaster several times per year. If you happen to live in a flood-prone area or a waterfront property, you may not be a stranger to floods and know for sure how much depends on your ability to act fast, protect your property, and sometimes evacuate into a safer area.
Unfortunately, elderly people happen to be the most frequent victims of floods. Many of them physically cannot build a sandbagging dike around their house; others remain unaware of the upcoming disaster because they don't use mobile devices or fail to recognize flood warnings. And, of course, there is a significant percentage of seniors are simply immobile and cannot move to a safer place without assistance.
In this article, we shall provide the fundamental safety tips for seniors during the flood and suggest some solutions, which will make your house or caregiving facility floodproof and safe during the disaster.
Create a communication plan in case of flooding
Practice shows that most casualties and losses during floods happen due to the lack of communication between those who need assistance and those who can provide it.
Seniors during the flood may rely on phones to contact their relatives and let them know that they are in danger. However, a massive surge can easily damage telephone and power lines cutting people off each other.
Elderly people need to have and be able to use an alternative, modern means of communication like cellphones, which will always be available and tuned the way a senior citizen can quickly contact those who can provide help.
- A cell phone should always be charged and turned on. Make sure to put it in a place that is accessible and highly unlikely to get damaged by water;
- Make sure that there is a possibility to get updated about upcoming disasters through mobile notifications, radio, or TV;
- Arrange the contacts in the cell phone and speed dial function the way that an elderly person can quickly contact the one who is responsible and able to assist in case of flooding.
Medical plan and essentials
Most seniors over 65 tend to have conditions that require constant and regular take of medications. However, local pharmacies and healthcare facilities may become unavailable during a flood or even be severely damaged by the disaster.
Providing medical care to seniors during the flood and after it, is another essential step you should take to protect their lives.
A senior may also lose connection with their regular caregivers who know the list of needed drugs, their dosage, and possible substitutes precisely.
Here is what you can do to minimize the risk:
- Create a stock of the most essential drugs enough to manage for at least a week without access to the drugstore;
- Discuss with a doctor a list of regular meds and their possible substitutes in case of emergency;
- In case you or your elder relative is going through a continuous treatment such as chemotherapy, dialog, etc., make sure to address a caregiver for a plan of actions in case of emergency;
- Build a list of meds that need to be taken regularly and their precise dosage. It is essential in case you find yourself under the care of another doctor or caregiver if you have to be evacuated due to flooding.
Prepare an emergency kit.
Creating a good emergency kit is essential to help seniors during the flood and ensure that the consequences will appear least harmful for them.
- Stock at least a 72-hour worth of drinking water for each person in the household or the caregiving facility;
- Create an emergency food stock that will consider the elderly's physical and medical condition;
- Buy emergency flashlights and stock of batteries, consider alternative communication means such as radios, alarms, flares, etc.
- Store all the medical information, insurance, and family contact information in a safe water-proof place.
Prepare the building for floods.
While it is essential to know how to protect seniors during the flood, specific precaution measures are to take before the disaster strikes.
Enduring your building and installing anti-flooding solutions may eliminate the need to evacuate and protect the senior citizen and their property from raging water.
Dam Easy Flood Barriers are easy to deploy and remove. They don't require any professional involvement or physical assistance. Lightweight and compact, those flood barriers are the most user-friendly solution on the modern market. It takes as little as 5 minutes to secure the house thoroughly and prevent floodwater from entering it and endangering anyone inside.
Contact Dam Easy today and learn how Dam Easy solutions will help you protect your seniors during the flood and make sure that they stay safe and sound and can easily floodproof their house even if you cannot reach out and help.
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