Aldrich Nancy, Benson William F
AgingOpportunities.com, P.O. Box 4910, Silver Spring, MD 20914-4910, USA.
Prev Chronic Dis. 2008 Jan;5(1):A27. Epub 2007 Dec 15.
About 80% of older adults have at least one chronic condition that makes them more vulnerable than healthy people during a disaster. These chronic conditions - combined with the physiological, sensory, and cognitive changes experienced as part of aging - result in frail older adults having special needs during emergencies. Planning and coordination among public health and emergency preparedness professionals and professionals who provide services for the aging are essential to meet these special needs. Several tools and strategies already exist to help prepare these professionals to protect and assist older adults during a disaster. These include having professionals from diverse fields work and train in coalitions, ensuring that advocates for older adults participate in community-wide emergency preparedness, and using community mapping data to identify areas where many older adults live.
约80%的老年人至少患有一种慢性病，这使得他们在灾难期间比健康人更脆弱。这些慢性病，再加上衰老过程中经历的生理、感官和认知变化，导致体弱的老年人在紧急情况下有特殊需求。公共卫生和应急准备专业人员与为老年人提供服务的专业人员之间的规划与协调，对于满足这些特殊需求至关重要。现已有多种工具和策略来帮助这些专业人员做好准备，以便在灾难期间保护和协助老年人。这些措施包括让来自不同领域的专业人员联合开展工作和培训，确保老年人权益倡导者参与全社区的应急准备工作，以及利用社区地图数据来确定老年人居住集中的区域。
