Additional Resources Mentioned
Takeaways
We shared 4 tips:
- Preparing Ahead of Time
- Decide whether you will shelter in place or evacuate
- Strengthen Your Communication Plan Before, During, and After the Storm
- Post storm, safely get them back in their routine
Read More in This Blog here
Full Episode Transcript
Nancy Treaster
Storm season brings big decisions. Sometimes we’re deciding whether to stay or evacuate. Today Sue and I are talking with Celeste Lynch, the executive director of Mooring Park Grand Lake community on important considerations around storm preparedness, whether your loved ones at home or in a community. We’re sharing four tips.
Sue Ryan
Welcome Celeste.
Celeste
Thank you Sue. As Nancy said, you’re the executive director at Moorings Park Grand Lake here in Naples, Florida, and you bring a long history of leadership in senior living, emergency planning, and resident safety. And it’s before, during, and after the storms, as well as how caregivers can be the best partner, which is very important, every step of the way.
Sue
Celeste, thank you so very much for joining us today.
Celeste
I’m delighted to be here. Thank you both, Nancy and Sue. Yes, I have worked in senior living for almost 40 years. I’m originally from the Pennsylvania area. So when it came to storm and preparedness, we were thinking more about snow storms in that area. I’ve lived here in Naples, Florida for the past 25 years. And that shifted really, of course, to hurricane preparedness.
Nancy Treaster
If you’re following along with the Navigating Dementia Caregiving Roadmap Guide, today’s episode aligns really nicely with step 14, which is create a care plan and at a minimum, a family emergency plan.
Sue Ryan
Absolutely. Whether you’re caring for your loved one with dementia at home or counting on the care community to be responsible for their safety, it’s important to plan and prepare as far ahead of time as you possibly can. so tip one is preparing ahead of time. Let’s start with how communities prepare. Since I think we can all learn from communities, I know I did from what communities do, even if our loved one is at home.
Celeste
That’s so true. Early decision making is very key in any type of storm preparedness. Timing, knowing what the county alerts are, and making sure you have a communication plan. In care communities, there’s regular training that happens, and certainly there’s preparation in advance for the storm and then plans in place during the storm and after the storm.
So I’m going to talk to you about four phases that you can utilize both at home and we use in the care community setting. Phase one is preparing in advance of any seasonal alert. Six weeks at the least preparing for snow season, any type of snow storms or hurricane, whatever that might be.
Really making sure you have all the supplies that you’re going to need and making sure you have a communication plan and a personal plan. Then when you come to phase two, that’s about 72 hours in advance of a storm.
making sure final preparations are made, your home is secure, or that if your loved one is in a care community, everything is set up as needed. Phase three is 24 hours in advance of the storm hitting your area making sure you have finalized everything, you know where your family is, you have your own plan, and friends are updated on what your plan is. And then during the storm itself, which would be the fourth phase, sheltering in place or evacuating, whatever that plan is that you’ve made, you should be ready to go.
One of the keys is really knowing that you yourself should have your own plan because if your family member is in a care setting, they’re going to be well taken care of. You need to have your own plan so that you can be safe as well. That’s a huge point.
Sue
When we think about a loved one who lives in a care community per se, we want to make sure that the communication and the contact information is really up to date. So who is the main contact person? Contact the community and make sure they have your updated information and that you know who you should be contacting at the community. And one of the things that for me, when we had the hurricane and I am sheltering in place with my husband where the hurricane was, that point of contact needs to be someone else. Or if I was at home and there’s a major storm, it needs to be somebody else because I might not be able to get contact. So make sure you’ve got the primary point of contact being the person who’s most likely going to be able to actually have communication.
Celeste
That’s a key point. Also in a care community, know what that community’s plan is. Would they evacuate or roll a shelter in place? You need to know that type of information in advance.
Having your loved one’s personal items prepared, extra set of glasses, their hearing aids, any extra medications, over-the-counter meds, batteries, make sure belongings are labeled. We really want to always be sure medications and refills are on hand. Having that is always going to give us peace of mind. And then knowing what you, yourself, or your family’s plans are during a storm and communicating that will help everyone be able to trust the plan.
Sue
And that’s huge because we’re going to have other things to be focusing on.
When my husband lived in a care community during a major storm, their structure, all of this planning that they had done and the detailed communication brought enormous peace of mind and comfort. I clearly understood their process. They communicated it well to us. I trusted it and I was able to be a supportive partner to my husband and a supportive partner in the care community as we were planning and going through it. And so it was really very, very helpful and a major difference for my experience being able to trust what you were putting together.
And we’ve also got that planning when our loved one is at home with us.
To your point, number one is make sure we have a complete list of all medications and types of medications, supplements or whatever it is, and know exactly when they need to take it, anything they need to be able to take it with. We wanna have all the instructions, special dosages, and we wanna have extras because we have no idea how long it might be before we’ll have access to getting refills. And pharmacies have the option to be able to give you extra medication in case of a storm.
And then we create care plans, but we want to have a printed copy of them so we understand the things that we’re going to do throughout the storm because it’s easy to get disoriented when we’re focusing on the storm as well. And then with personal care items, make sure that we have for their hygiene essentials and all other personal care items, whether it’s incontinence pads or cleansing wipes, no rinse shampoo anything that they’re going to need, make sure that we’ve got extra copies of information, make sure we’ve got extra supplies. And then one of the things that’s really important is when we’re out of power, if you’re up in Pennsylvania and it’s cold, you want to have clothing for what that climate is going to be if you don’t have power. Down here in Florida, you’ve got air conditioning. When that’s gone, you need clothing for when it’s going to be warmer. So make sure you’ve got the changes of clothing depending on the weather conditions. And then we want to have digital and printed copies of all important documents like the legal and insurance information in case something happens to our home. And just like we would in the care community, we want to make sure we know where their glasses are. We’ve got extra hearing aid batteries. We’ve got chargers. We’ve got all the different kinds of things we’re going to need.
And then a really huge consideration for us, depending on where your journey is, is making sure we check out the durable medical equipment that they’re using and what is required for that to work. For example, how does the oxygen tank work if you don’t have power? Which things require the power? Which could be battery operated? What do you need to do in case there’s a backup? And then something else, when we’re gonna be sheltering at home, and they also do this in the care communities, is create a comfort zone in your home for your loved one. Something that’s filled with the things that bring them comfort, that is where they can relax more and get away from some of the anxiety of the storm if they’re home.
Nancy Treaster
Depending on the potential severity of the storm, we’re gonna have probably a pretty big decision if it’s a really severe storm. And that is gonna lead us into tip two, which is you have to decide whether you’re going to shelter in place or evacuate. Big decision.
Celeste
It is, Nancy. whether your loved one is if they’re in a care community, whether they’re in independent living or maybe more in a health care setting, such as assisted living or skilled nursing, it’s important to know what will you do with your family member? Will you shelter in place with the community or will you evacuate your family member with you if possible? Also knowing what the community’s plans are, do they shelter in place or do they evacuate?
What is their plan and knowing that will help you feel more confident in planning. Care communities have different advantages, certainly. If you’re in, your loved one is in a care community, you know that there is most likely generator power. And we certainly have that type of setting here in our local care communities because of hurricanes. But up in the Northern areas where you know, snow and ice storms happen, certainly similar type of capabilities. If those types of things are in place, there’s some refrigeration sometimes, which can help with food storage and medication storage. Usually there’s some type of emergency lighting and electricity, which helps with service elevators for people that have limited mobility. Generator power is so important and to know and understand what type of generator power is available if your family or loved one lives in a care community. Food, water, and staff. I mean those kinds of things are really important to know. You have peace of mind if your loved one is in a care community. Those are always available. It may not be the hot meal that you receive every day, but there will be food and water certainly and everyone will be well fed and taken care of.
Spouses should always ask as well at their community, may I come and stay with my spouse during a storm? That can give some wonderful reassurance.
Nancy Treaster
I love that idea. And it’s something to really think all the way through because even if your care receiver lives at home, some people with early dementia live at home by themselves. And so you may be thinking, you know, well, we’re not gonna evacuate, so I’m gonna let them stay at home by themselves and we’ll just get them prepared. But think about the fact that executive function really is a struggle in non-routine environments. And so when someone might be able to live by themselves in a normal situation, during a heightened stress situation like a storm, it may no longer be reasonable for them to stay at home by themselves. You may want to move them in with you if you’re in the local area or with a friend so someone can help get them through the storm. Just something to consider. Whether you’re staying, or evacuating.
Another thing to think about is really the safety capabilities you have if you stay at home or if your loved one’s staying with someone. For example, do they have mobility challenges? If they fell, would their caregivers be able to get them back up? You can’t count on 911 in the middle of a terrible storm. Think about the fact that there may only be one person for or whatever number of caregivers you have for 24-7 for multiple days in a row. And is that practical or not, depending on your loved one’s situation? Do you live in a difficult area to be rescued if there’s floods or something like that? And would that really be a much more difficult situation than you wanna get yourself into? How could you manage with loss of power? If you don’t have a generator at your home, if you had loss of power for an extended period of time, would you be able to get enough food and water and clothing to be safe and comfortable and something else to consider is how Will you be able to handle potential aggressive behaviors because when they’re out of their routine people living with dementia can get Unfortunately very aggressive and you need to make sure you can safely manage those types of behaviors in this type of situation.
Sue Ryan
That’s such an important point, Nancy. And throughout my caregiving journeys, I’ve navigated all three options about making the wisest choice. And I benefited so much from the care community allowing me to shelter in place with my husband during a major storm because I was able to support him directly throughout the storm. And then I’ve chosen to stay at home several times with my loved one.
And one time I chose to evacuate my husband when a major hurricane was coming. I didn’t think that we could be safe. And I knew it would be incredibly challenging for him and me. And it was. I also knew, though, that the risks associated with keeping him home safely were more significant than evacuating him. And while it was challenging, we were safe.
I discuss this in detail in a different one of our podcast episodes, which was episode 19 talking about traveling. And there’s a lot for us to consider when we are traveling with our loved one with dementia. So please listen to that episode to get more information and make sure you’re prepared because there’s a lot to it. And that leads us to tip three. Communication. Strengthen your communication plan and plan is the important word before, during, and after the storm.
Celeste
That’s right, Sue. And I’ll speak specifically to care communities here. And really knowing that communication plan, as I touched on earlier, is key. If you’re a family member, you want to make sure that you have one point of contact. Let the care community know who that person is. One person is who they want to be connecting with at all times. So make sure you have a plan for who that should be and let them know.
Sue Ryan
There are often different types of emergency type communication systems and alerts that care communities have in place. Know what they are. Ask in advance so that you know how often prior, during, and after a storm you’ll be updated. One of the things I’ve seen used very successfully is posting some things online that family members outside of the community can see. And then at least they receive updates and they have some peace of mind.
So that’s very important for our families, whether they’re the one that’s the caregiver or not, that they know and can go somewhere to look and see what is going on at that care community. Well, those are huge. When my husband was living in a care community, having my expectations about communications, and getting the updates was incredibly reassuring. And in the major storm, I’m not the best point of contact because I’m in the storm as well. So it’s evaluating who is the best point of contact for that care community when you’ve got a major storm. And for us at home, we also want to create a communications plan for our family members and our neighbors. And it’s important to plan for that cell tower outage.
When we don’t have access to the phone, we need somebody else to be able to make a call. And if we can’t find the phone numbers, we can’t be a whole lot of help. So I’m sharing that because I learned that the hard way. And same thing at home is sharing that evacuation plan with someone who is outside of the area and can especially be helpful if you decide that you need to do the evacuation process.
Nancy Treaster
So Sue and Celeste, we’ve gotten prepared. We’ve thought through whether we evacuate or stay. We’re through the storm now, and that leads us to tip four, because one of the most important thing that happens with someone living with dementia is to safely get them back into their routine. But we don’t wanna rush it.
Sue Ryan
No, and you can’t get them back into a routine until you have access to the things that could get them back into a routine, like power, being able to go to the grocery store and buy gas and drive safely down the road. You just can’t do that. And in a care community, the same thing. Certainly many of those things are already in place and in the care community. But for you, if you’re bringing your loved one back, making sure that you can drive and get gas and that you do it safely.
There’s no rush to get back, do it safely, and then the care community will be there for you when you arrive. And don’t go try to visit the care community until they tell you it’s safe to come. Because the last thing they need when they’re trying to get their routines back in order is for you to become disrupting it. So yeah.
Nancy Treaster
So true. Wherever you live, there are local resources that you can look to for support, such as FEMA, et cetera. In the US, we will list in the show notes some of those sites for you to be able to go out to and look for support.
Sue Ryan
Yeah. During and after the storm, I’ve learned give myself and everyone else around me grace upon grace. And a storm is a perfectly imperfect journey. We’re talking about planning ahead. We’re talking about all the things we can do. And then the storm comes. So we’re all trying to do our very best in situations that no matter how much we prepare, they’re going to challenge us. So give a lot of grace.
Nancy Treaster
That is so true. Celeste, thank you so much for spending time with us today and giving a community side or thank you so much for spending time with us today and giving us the community view as well as the at home view of what to do to get ready for storms and how to get through it. So we really, really appreciate it.
Celeste
My pleasure, thank you.
Nancy Treaster
Let’s summarize. In this episode, we talked to Celeste about getting prepared for storms and what we need to do to get through storms. And we shared four tips. The first tip was how to prepare ahead of time.
Sue Ryan
The second tip is deciding whether you will shelter in place or evacuate.
Nancy Treaster
Third tip, strengthen your communication plan for before, during, and after the storm.
Sue Ryan
And the fourth tip is post storm safely get them back in their routine.
Nancy Treaster
Absolutely. If you have tips about weathering storms, please share those on our Facebook page or our Instagram page. The links are in the show notes. For every podcast, we take notes for you. There’s a matching blog. So take the number of this podcast. You can go to our website, the caregiversjourney.org, find the blog with the matching number on the blogs page. And effectively, those are the notes for this particular podcast.
We also have a link in the show notes to the navigating dementia caregiving roadmap. Like I said earlier, this podcast relates to step 14, which is creating your care plan and having an emergency plan. You can also find that under the guides page of our website, the caregivers journey.org. If you like this podcast, please share it with others and please like it and follow it. We really, really appreciate it.
Sue Ryan
We’re all on this journey together.
Nancy Treaster
Yes, we are.
