NCD Brief on Hurricane Katrina Affected Areas

National Council on Disability on Hurricane Katrina Affected Areas


Basic Info

People with disabilities in the Gulf Coast areas of Alabama, Mississippi, 
and Louisiana are experiencing tremendous loss of life and devastation 
caused by Hurricane Katrina. Current data indicates that people with 
disabilities are now most at risk in this situationand will need recovery 
assistance for months or years. A disproportionate number of the 
Hurricane survivors are people with disabilities whose needs for basic 
necessities are compounded by chronic health conditions and functional 
impairments. 

For example:

In Biloxi, Mississippi, a city of about 50,000 people, 26 percent of 
residents are people with disabilities. This means that there are 10,700 
people with disabilities 5 years of age and older who live in Biloxi.

In Mobile, Alabama, a city of 198,915 people, 24 percent of the residents 
are people with disabilities. This means that there are 43,000 people 
with disabilities 5 years of age and older who live in Mobile. 

 
In New Orleans, a city of about 484,000 people, 23.2 percent of residents 
are people with disabilities. This means that there are 102,122 people 
with disabilities 5 years of age and older who live in New Orleans. 

 
Who are the 102,122 people with disabilities who live in New Orleans? 
About 10 percent (or 12,000) of them are people ages 5 to 20 years old; 
61 percent (or 63,000) of them are aged 21 to 64 years old; and 29 
percent (or 27,000) of the people are 65 years of age and older. 


The 102,122 people with disabilities living in New Orleans include people 
who are blind, people who are deaf, people who use wheelchairs, canes, 
walkers, crutches, people with service animals, and people with mental 
health needs. At least half of the people with disabilities in New 
Orleans who are of working age are not employed. Many of the people rely 
on a variety of government programs such as Supplemental Security Income 
and Medicaid to help them meet their daily service and support needs.


Implications 

The total destruction of the physical environment and public/private 
infrastructure and communications systems in the Gulf Coastal areas 
affected by Hurricane Katrina has life-threatening implications for all 
citizens with disabilities, and those without disabilities. The 
implications for these people include:

7        for people with physical disabilities and who are over 65 years 
of age, being unable to leave their homes, group homes, nursing homes, 
hospitals without significant assistance;

7        for all people with disabilities, being prevented from using any 
type of accessible public transportation which in all likelihood do not 
exist anymore; 

7        for people who are blind, being unable to even get around in 
their own flooded neighborhoods because they can no longer navigate the 
environmental landscape;

7        for all people with disabilities driven by floods from 
institutions or group homes or nursing homes, needing to be housed in 
less than satisfactory conditions with considerably less than the 
necessary range of services and supports they need for an indeterminate 
amount of time;

7        for people with disabilities who have service animals, are 
unable to rely on those animals outside of the house or group home 
because these animals cannot navigate safely in the flooded streets;

7        for people who are deaf, being challenged to access emergency 
information through television, radio, TTY, etc. because public 
communications systems are somewhat compromised; 

7        for all people with disabilities, being unable to secure 
life-saving food and water because many of them are trapped within the 
confines of inadequate supplied shelters, stadiums, etc.; and

7        people may have lost or become separated from the drugs they 
rely on daily for diabetes, heart disease and other chronic ailments. 
Pharmacies in the affected areas may have insufficient stocks of vital 
drugs like insulin for diabetics, creating a need to organize efforts to 
import and distribute essential medicines in the area. In addition, many 
pharmacies have been raided by looters.

Where to go for help?

People with disabilities affected by Hurricane Katrina should try to 
contact their local emergency response officials by using the 9-1-1 
system. This system will handle voice and TTY callers. 

Louisiana government officials advise that in addition to the existing 
special needs shelters that have opened in Alexandria and Monroe, 
shelters have been opened in two other communities in Louisiana. These 
shelters are staffed by the Department of Health and Hospitals and 
Department of Social Services. While these shelters are open it is 
strongly encouraged that citizens first try to evacuate to the north with 
their families and get out of harms way. These are shelters of last 
resort and are not for the general public.


At 10:00 am this morning, an additional shelter was opened in Lafayette. 
At this time, special needs shelters have been opened in Alexandria, 
Monroe, Lafayette, and Baton Rouge. Due to the uncertainty of the damage 
that Baton Rouge and Lafayette will sustain from the storm, DHH officials 
stress that it is very important to move to a shelter further north in 
Alexandria or Monroe if at all possible.  

Special Needs Shelters are designed for individuals who are homebound, 
chronically ill or who have disabilities and are in need of medical or 
nursing care, and have no other place to receive care.

Those seeking shelter will be screened by nurses to determine the level 
of care needed. Only people who meet admission criteria can be sheltered. 
If their condition is too critical, they will be referred to a hospital 
for sheltering, or admission. If their condition is not severe enough for 
Special Needs Sheltering, they will be referred to a general shelter. 

Special triage telephone lines are being established in each region to 
accept the calls of citizens seeking special needs sheltering. Citizens 
with special needs seeking shelter must call telephone number in their 
area BEFORE attempting to access a shelter. These numbers are listed below.

 

Alexandria:                   800-841-5778                
Shreveport:                   800-841-5776

Baton Rouge:                800-349-1372                
Monroe:                       866-280-7287

Houma/Thibodaux:       800-228-9409               
Slidell/Hammond:           866-280-7724

Lafayette:                      800-901-3210                

Lake Charles:                866-280-2711                            

 
Special Needs Shelters are not designed for the general public or for 
nursing home patients. Nursing homes in Louisiana are required to have 
emergency evacuation plans in place that ensure the health and safety of 
their residents. In most instances, these plans allow for homes in 
affected areas to transport their patients to nursing homes in areas safe 
from the storm.


Health officials note that if individuals have health problems that 
require medical expertise and must evacuate, it is best for them to go 
with family members or caretakers north and west to areas that are out of 
harms way. These will provide medical support services only. Because of 
limited staffing, those going to a Special Needs Shelter must have a 
caretaker to assist with ongoing support and they should bring all 
necessary supplies including sheets, blankets and pillows.

Community And Residential Services Association (CARSA), a trade 
organization for providers of services with developmental disabilities, 
in cooperation with the ARC of Louisiana, the Developmental Disabilities 
Council and The Advocacy Center, is available to assist families who may 
have relatives who were evacuated from community homes and other service 
programs in the Greater New Orleans area.

Families seeking information may call the following numbers for assistance:

CARSA  225-343-8811


The ARC of Louisiana  1-866-966-6261 

Developmental Disabilities Council  1-800-450-8108

The Advocacy Center (Baton Rouge)  1-800-711-1696 

The Advocacy Center (Lafayette)  1-800-822-0210


How can we help?
 
(This note was distributed by an Independent Living Center) 

Dear IL Colleague,

As you may know, the Centers for Independent Living in Biloxi, 
Mississippi and New Orleans have been gravely affected by the hurricane. 
In fact the Biloxi, MS center was totally destroyed. Many of you are 
asking how you can help. Here is what we have learned from colleagues in 
those states.

Sending money is the first priority. Sending supplies to those centers is 
helpful too but NOT RIGHT NOW, because they can't get through the water. 

Here are the suggested options for right now:

1) Send a check or credit card payment to the Red Cross and designate it 
for Hurricane Relief, or designate it for people with disabilities in the 
Biloxi/Hattiesburg or New Orleans areas.

2) If you want to send money for the CILs that are dealing with this 
disaster directly, here are your options:

For the Biloxi Center, mail the check (payable to LIFE of Central MS and 
designated for the Biloxi Center) to:

LIFE of Central Mississippi
754 North President Street, Suite 1
Jackson, MS 39202

For the centers in Louisiana (make checks payable to Resources for 
Independent Living - this is a branch of the N.O. center - and designate 
for the New Orleans center)and mail to:

Resources for IL
11931 Industriplex Blvd. Suite 200
Baton Rouge, LA  70809

We have also learned from Mack Marsh of the Shreveport Center that 
centers in Shreveport, Baton Rouge, and Lake Charles are assisting 
evacuees. Mack says they would also appreciate supplies if there is any 
way to get those supplies to the centers. His list includes: manual 
wheelchairs, hospital beds, adult diapers, bed pads, catheters and other 
supplies. The address for the Baton Rouge center is shown above, 
addresses for the Shreveport and Lake Charles centers follow.

Southwest LA Independence Center, Inc. 
Mitch Granger 
1202 Kirkman, Suite C
Lake Charles, LA 70601

New Horizons, Inc. 
Jerry Kidwell
9300 Mansfield Road, Suite 204
Shreveport, LA 71118
 

Coordinated Federal-State-Local response


A coordinated Federal Disability Recovery Plan for Hurricane Katrina 
should be immediately developed and implemented. The decisions the 
Federal Government makes, the priority it accords to civil rights, and 
the methods it adopts to ensure uniformity in the ways agencies handle 
their disability-related responsibilities are likely to be established in 
the early days of this emergency situation and be difficult to change if 
not set on the right course at the outset. This response must include 
people with disabilities.

           
An urgent priority is to provide funds and secure resources that 
specifically meet the critical needs of Katrina survivors with 
disabilities, help to rebuild the organizations that serve them, identify 
accessible temporary and permanent housing and address the specific 
requests being made by leaders in the devastated areas and those in the 
areas that people with disabilities are being evacuated to. At the 
minimum, this response should include:

 
Accessible Disaster Facilities and Services. Communications technology is 
vital for people with disabilities during this disaster to help assess 
damage, collect information, and deploy supplies. Access to appropriate 
facilities -- housing, beds, toilets, and other necessities -- must be 
monitored and made available to individuals with disabilities before, 
during, and after a disaster. This access also must be ensured for those 
who incur a disability as a result of a disaster. 

 
Accessible Communications and Assistance. As communications technology 
and policy become more integral to disaster relief and mitigation, 
providing accessibility to the technology for people with disabilities 
will be life-saving. For example, people with hearing impairments require 
interpreters, TTY communications, and signaling devices. People with 
cognitive impairments, such as those with developmental disabilities, 
Alzheimer's disease, or brain injury, will likely require assistance to 
cope with hurricane-ravaged surroundings and to minimize confusion 
factors. 

Accessible and Reliable Rescue Communications. Accessible and reliable 
communications technology is critical to ensuring fast, effective, and 
competent field treatment of people with disabilities. Communications 
technologies can assist field personnel in rescue coordination and 
tracking and can be combined with databases that house information on 
optimal treatment for particular disabilities or that track the 
allocation of post-disaster resources.
 

# # #

Note: The National Council on Disability is an independent federal agency 
making recommendations to the President and Congress to enhance the 
quality of life for Americans with disabilities and their families.
 

Mark S. Quigley

Director of Communications
National Council on Disability
1331 F Street, NW, Suite 850
Washington, DC 20004
202-272-2004
202-272-2074 TTY
www.ncd.gov

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