Your Path: Home > Newsroom >

Printer-Friendly Version

For Immediate Release
May 22, 2006

For more information:
Ivette Zamora
(203) 325-8772

New York, NY - A key lesson from Hurricane Katrina - which killed nearly 800 older adults in New Orleans alone - is that the nation needs to better prepare and allocate additional funding to improve care for older adults during disasters, Carmel Bitondo Dyer, M.D., a spokesman for the American Geriatrics Society told the Senate Special Committee on Aging yesterday.

Dr. Dyer recounted her experiences caring for older evacuees among the 23,000 Louisiana residents evacuated to Houston's Astrodome in Katrina's aftermath. Nearly 75% of those who died in New Orleans during and after the hurricane, and more than 60% of the evacuees who died in Houston were 65 or older.

At the Astrodome, Dr. Dyer and other healthcare professionals were confronted with thousands of older adults - including many who were unable to take their own medications or use the toilet without help, but found themselves alone. "They languished on their cots unnoticed, usually suffering in silence as busy volunteers attended to the needs of more vocal and able-bodied evacuees," explained Dr Dyer, associate professor of medicine and director of the Baylor College of Medicine geriatrics program at the Harris County Hospital District in Texas.

In response, she, other geriatricians, geriatric nurse practitioners, social workers, and others providing aging services formed a team they dubbed SWiFT, (Seniors Without Family Triage) and together developed the SWiFT Screening Tool© to determine which seniors needed which services and how urgently. Using the screening tool, they transferred seniors in greatest need to a residential facility; referred those with lesser needs to a local case manager, and referred those who simply needed to locate family and friends to local volunteer agencies providing this service.

"It would be a real mistake not to learn from this experience," Dr. Dyer told the Senate Committee. She offered several recommendations from a new guide to preparing and caring for older adults in disasters that she and other SWiFT members created in conjunction with the American Medical Association. The guide calls on the nation to:

• Develop a simple, inexpensive, integrated and efficient tracking system for elders and other vulnerable adults - such as a standard, numbered color-coded bracelet system - that could be employed during disasters
  
  
• Designate separate shelter areas for elders and other vulnerable adults, attended by medical personnel and volunteers, during disasters
  
  
• Involve geriatricians and other geriatrics health professionals in all aspects of emergency preparedness and emergency care delivery, and in the training and education of first responders and others who will care for older and vulnerable adults in disasters
  
  
• Involve region-specific social services, medical and public health resources, volunteers and facilities in planning the care of older and vulnerable adults during disasters
  
  
• Utilize a public health triage system like the SWiFT Screening Tool© in pre and post disaster situations
  
  
• Develop coordinated regional plans for evacuation of residents of long-term care facilities and for homebound persons with special needs during disasters
  
  
• Conduct drills and research on disaster preparedness and the use of a triage tool, such as SWiFT, to ensure their effectiveness
  
  
• "Geriatricians and other geriatrics professionals should play a major role at the national, state and local levels; however there are likely not enough of us go around," added Dr. Dyer, who also called for additional funding to plan and prepare for emergencies and for the restoration of funding for Title VII geriatrics health professions programs. Eliminated this year, the funding supports, among other things, the nation's 50 Geriatric Education Centers. These centers, Dr. Dyer noted, are "at the forefront of disaster preparedness and the elderly; having prepared the leading national curriculum in this area."

ABOUT THE AGS
Founded in 1942, the American Geriatrics Society (www.americangeriatrics.org) is a nationwide, not-for-profit association of geriatrics health care professionals dedicated to improving the health, independence, and quality of life of all older people. The Society supports this mission through activities in clinical practice, professional and public education, research, and public policy. With an active membership of over 6,500 health care professionals, the Society has become a pivotal force in shaping attitudes, policies, and practices in geriatric medicine.