emergency preparedness
Others
Instructed on emergency preparedness. Planning ahead to ensure adequate care in case of severe weather or natural disaster is imperative. Here are a few key tips that warrant consideration in any elderly person’s disaster plan: Create an emergency contact card listing all of the emergency contact numbers and family information, including a list of doctors and relatives or friends who should be notified in case of injury. Discuss what to do in case of an emergency. Create a “disaster kit” that includes: Water for three days, Non-perishable food for three days (examples include protein and fruit bars, dried fruit, nuts, peanut butter, crackers, canned juices and canned food), plus a manual can opener Battery-operated radio with extra batteries, Flashlight with plenty of extra batteries Change of clothes, plus extra blankets First aid supplies, Prescription medicine list, plus copies of prescriptions Extra eyeglasses and hearing-aid batteries, Copies of medical insurance and Medicare cards, Some cash on hand, as a bank or ATM machine may be inaccessible Extra warm clothing
Instructed patient in emergency care These pages will cover prevention of an emergency situation, and what to do if: Your loved one has trouble breathing or stops breathing You cannot insert a trach tube The trach falls out.
Instructed patient if your trach tube comes out Don’t panic! Stay calm. Your stoma will stay open. If you do not know how
to put the tube back in or you can’t get it in, have someone take you to the nearest Emergency Department, or go to your
family doctor’s office. Take your extra trach tube with you.