Guy Lepage, a disaster management volunteer with the Canadian Red Cross, said you should always have extra medication on hand in case an emergency prevents you from filing your prescription.
Guy Lepage, a disaster management volunteer with the Canadian Red Cross, said you should always have extra medication on hand in case an emergency prevents you from filing your prescription.
Guy Lepage remembers working in an Ajax emergency shelter during the 2013 pre-Christmas ice storm that crippled part of the region and knocked out electricity for many. While doing wellness checks of some of the people who sought shelter there overnight so they could stay warm, he met an elderly man.
“He said, ‘I take medication. I was down to my last pill last night, so I only took half so I can take the other half today,’” said Lepage. “Fortunately, we had a public health nurse at the shelter, and she was in contact with pharmacies that still had power and we were able to connect him with his medication.
“Now, imagine if you are a caregiver and encounter that situation and you don’t have a nurse that can get you the medication the person you care for needs,” he said. “That person could be in a life-threatening situation because they need their heart medication, or insulin or any other medicine to deal with a condition that can be dangerous. That is why planning ahead is important.”
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
A disaster management volunteer with the Canadian Red Cross, Lepage knows how quickly a person can find themselves in an emergency. He has travelled across the country and around the world assisting in disaster relief efforts — form the Haiti earthquake in 2010 through to Hungary in 2022 to help Ukrainian refugees.
He said always having a supply of medicine on hand — in case you have to shelter in place, are forced to leave your home or can’t access a pharmacy — is only part of the planning that caregivers and those receiving care should do to be ready in an emergency.
“You have to take care of yourself first. The analogy I use is when you are on a plane and the masks come down and you are taking care of someone. You have to put on your mask first before you put it on the person you are caring for. It is the same thing, if you are the caregiver, you have to take care of yourself first and then make sure there is enough for the person you are also taking care of.”
So, what do you need to ensure you and the person who you are helping to care for are prepared?
According to the Canadian Red Cross, you should know the risks your community might face and then plan ahead and put together emergency kits in case you need to shelter in place or evacuate. Specifics of what should be included in those kits, such as having two liters of water per person per day for three days, or a crank- or battery-operated radio, are available on the Canadian Red Cross website.
“With climate change creating more and more havoc in our daily lives, I think more people are having a discussion and planning ahead,” said Lepage.
As well, Public Safety Canada has an emergency preparedness guide for people with disabilities or special needs and their caregivers. It includes specific sections related to people with mobility issues, non-visible disabilities, hearing or vision loss, along with advice for seniors. It includes checklists, planning tips, information on how to manage details about the prescriptions you take, and also how to ensure information about your emergency contacts is readily available.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
“My advice if you are caring for someone with medical needs is to have a discussion with their medical professional, and then do an audit of what that person would need should you, for example, have to leave your home,” Lepage said.
“Once you make that list, you ensure you have enough of what is on that list ready to go in case you have to evacuate. I can tell you, when the order comes to leave in a hurry, that is not the time to be doing this because inevitably you will forget things.”
He said it is also important before a disaster or emergency to set up a support network that can assist you — and reach out to make sure you are okay. For example, someone who is in a wheelchair and lives in an apartment building may need people to help carry them and their chair down the stairs in the event of an extended power outage.
“You may need to be as self-sufficient as possible. So maybe those are neighbours in the building who you know can assist you, or people you know you can call who would be able to come over and help you,” he said. “Or it may be better for you to shelter in place and rely on your emergency kit.”
