Seniors can sometimes be forced to fend for themselves during disasters. However, they could be safer if they had better forms of communication and access to more resources, according to a new report from the New York Academy of Medicine.
The July report, “Resilient Communities: Empowering Older Adults in Disaster and Daily Life,” was based on focus groups held with New York City seniors who had lived through 2012’s Hurricane Sandy. Almost three-quarters of the participants lived in the area most affected by the hurricane.
While seniors are likely to be influenced by social networks when making decisions in emergency situations, they often are not involved in emergency planning, the report said. Seniors also tend to support their communities before, during and after an emergency, it said.
Because seniors are not often included in community decision-making during emergency planning, they are more at risk during crises, the report found. For example, of the 44 reported New York City deaths during Hurricane Sandy, 31 people, or more than 70 percent, were 55 or older. The majority drowned at home.
People ages 60 and older make up 17 percent of New York City’s population, and those numbers are expected to increase by 50 percent over the next 20 years. Many live independently and function normally from day to day, even with limited mobility or chronic health problems.
“Most older people, despite having chronic health care conditions, operate fine,” said Lindsay Goldman, LMSW, project manager for health policy at the New York Academy of Medicine, in a July teleconference. “They don’t require services; they’re not connected to resources. Once the power is out they become vulnerable.”
Some factors in seniors’ lives can increase their vulnerability. Nearly one in five New York City seniors live in poverty, which means less access to resources, such as cellphones or tablets, that might be helpful during emergencies. The report showed that very few seniors use email or social media to stay connected with their community.
According to the report, more than half of New York City’s senior population is foreign-born. More than a quarter of city seniors speak English “less than very well.” Such barriers can further isolate them from emergency announcements and planning. For example, one focus group participant noted that seniors who could not speak English and could not afford cable television would not be able to watch news channels in their own language, which might alert them to storms or other danger.
The report stressed providing self-empowering resources specifically tailored to seniors, such as training them to identify vulnerable people in their community. Also vital is linking seniors with access to health care, social services and food under both routine conditions and emergency conditions so they can stay healthy and prepared. The report recommended including senior training in disaster preparedness and teaching seniors how to use multiple forms of communication, such as cellphones and tablet devices.
Goldman said that it is important to understand the culture of housing complexes where seniors often reside. Whether they live in high-rise apartments, senior living complexes or town homes, seniors can be left out during decisions to evacuate, such as one focus group member who woke to find his neighbors were gone without notice.
Stress and chaos in a disaster situation are especially difficult for seniors with mental health conditions such as dementia and those who lived through traumatic experiences such as civil war and the Holocaust, the report said. Such seniors said they felt safest at home and therefore decided not to leave.
But many of the seniors who lived in the area affected by Hurricane Sandy said they stayed because they thought they could help others who decided not to evacuate. One resident spoke about cooking for the young children in her building, while others made sure fellow seniors were safe. The report found that seniors with skills and experience took leadership roles after the hurricane by training volunteers, taking donations and identifying isolated neighbors.
In fact, seniors with close ties to their community can make excellent volunteers, the report found. They were especially adept at identifying isolated seniors who might need extra help. But others might be cut off from their peers and younger generations, the report found. Because of the isolation some seniors may feel even in their own neighborhoods or buildings, community outreach groups said they feel the need to extend their services to seniors who may not participate in community organizations.
Social networks within neighborhood communities proved to be influential. Many seniors counseled each other to decide if they would leave or stay. Seniors were often skeptical about evacuating during Hurricane Sandy, and refused to go to shelters, the report found. For example, when one focus group participant was asked why he did not evacuate despite not having water for 10 days, he said it was because all his friends were still there.
“This report reinforces the need to assess our neighborhood’s identity and plan with the community rather than for the community,” said Susan Fox, executive director of Shorefront YM-YWHA, a community group in Brooklyn, New York.
The academy also recommended that landlords of buildings with high concentrations of seniors be supported in making plans to care for the populations, and making seniors more generally aware of services available to them, like churches and libraries during routine conditions so they know where to turn during emergency conditions.
Goldman will be presenting about the report during a session at APHA’s 142nd Annual Meeting and Exposition this fall. The session, 3211, will be held on Monday, Nov. 17.
For more information on the report, visit www.nyam.org.
- Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association
