Emergency Preparedness For Agencies Serving Older People: Lessons from September 11, 2001
And Other Recent Emergency Situations

STATEMENT BY
Igal Jellinek
Executive Director

Council of Senior Centers & Services of New York City, Inc.
49 West 45th Street 7th Floor New York, New York 10036
Telephone: 212-398-6565 Fax: 212-398-8398
Email: ijellinek@cscs-ny.org

Before the City Council Aging Committee
September 18, 2003; City Hall, New York, New York

Good morning. Chairperson Maria Baez, members of the Aging Committee and members of the City Council, I am Igal Jellinek, Executive Director of the Council of Senior Centers & Services of New York City, and I welcome the privilege of appearing before you. 

Council of Senior Centers and Services of New York City, Inc. (CSCS) was founded in 1979 as a citywide organization for aging service providers. CSCS acts as a social policy advocate and training and technical assistance resource for its 265 community-based senior service organizations serving more than 300,000 elderly New Yorkers. Our members provide older New Yorkers with multi-service senior centers, adult day service programs, Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities, also known as NORCs, home delivered and congregate meals, home care services, housing, social and mental health services and programs to serve the families and caregivers of older people. Our mission is to promote the quality of life, independent living, productivity and dignity of older people and their families.

Without a doubt, September 11, 2001 was the most devastating event of recent years. Our members strove to provide essential services to older people throughout the City, often when they were forgotten by, or at the least not a priority for, most emergency service and longer term support efforts. In addition to September 11 and additional terrorist threats, we have experienced the threat of a transit strike, heat waves and, most recently, a black out, and just this week we are faced with the threat of a major hurricane. All of these have taught us a lot about what needs to be done to ensure that our older citizens receive the support and services they need in times of crisis. While “first responders” such as Emergency Medical Services, police and fire fighters are the first to reach people during a crisis such as September 11th, it needs to be recognized that “second responders” such as social service providers serve a critical function as well. We can identify the homebound and “hidden” elderly and quickly respond to their unique needs, which may not be medical in nature. We are also there over the long run, which is critical as people in the community adjust to the personal and community-wide changes that a major crisis causes.

During the past two years, CSCS has been working on an initiative to help senior service providers be better prepared to function as “second responders” for the variety of emergency situations that may face them and hamper their efforts to provide services to older people and their families.

Our recently published manual, Preparing for Emergencies: A Planning Guide for Agencies Serving Older People, will help senior service organizations and others to prepare for and withstand crisis situations. We are distributing this manual to aging service providers throughout the five boroughs and, as a leader in emergency preparedness in senior service settings, have received inquiries from across the country. Specifically, we are encouraging agencies and working with them to:

• Assess and protect their computer systems

• Make the appropriate improvements to their buildings to ensure the safety of staff and clients

• Develop back-up systems to provide essential services such as meals and home care 

• Collaborate with other organizations in their community to share resources and expertise during emergencies

• Train staff, clients, volunteers and community members in basic emergency procedures

• Work with older people to prepare at home for large-scale emergencies

In addition to chapters outlining steps to achieve emergency preparedness, our manual includes tips for staff training, special ideas to implement, appendices that include check lists and forms and a section on resources. And we are providing training for agencies throughout the five boroughs to help agencies develop and implement emergency preparedness plans.

We are also focusing our efforts on helping our member agencies work with older New Yorkers in their homes. To that end, we are publishing a short emergency guide for seniors that includes space for personal emergency phone numbers and personal information, how to prepare their homes in case they are trapped there and evacuation plans.

We are planning to develop a curriculum and provide training to senior service agencies to teach them how to reach out to and help their older clients prepare themselves for emergency situations. We are currently seeking funds to help us complete this portion of our emergency preparedness initiative.

The recent blackout and numerous heat waves illustrate another critical situation for older New Yorkers. Currently, 1/3 of New York City senior centers lack adequate air conditioning systems. Some have no air conditioning system at all. It is vitally important that all of New York City’s senior centers have adequate and functioning air conditioning systems. During the hot weather, senior centers, which are often havens to older people, are unbearably hot. This means that many older people do not attend, are isolated in their homes – often not air conditioned as well – or risk the heat to get to the centers, only to sit in the heat there. And the few centers that are air-conditioned become overwhelmed by the influx of older people who do not typically attend and are looking for relief from the heat. In 1999, 2/3 of those that died from heat exposure were over age 55. This is a dangerous situation and needs to be addressed. All senior centers should have air conditioning. Please note pages 4 and 5, attached, highlighting some heroic stories of senior center staff during the blackout. 

During the past two years, many events have occurred that have caused us to rethink the way we provide services in New York City. As the largest member organization for aging service providers, it is CSCS’s job to help ensure the health and well being of older New Yorkers. Based on our experience during the past two years, there are three issues I would strongly encourage you to consider.

First, lead an effort to install air conditioning in all New York City Senior Centers. This will help ensure the health of older people and all community residents who utilize these spaces.

Second, support the efforts of aging service providers throughout New York City in developing viable emergency preparedness plans. Encourage them to prepare their buildings and computer systems, develop contingency service plans and work with their colleagues to prepare for the unexpected.

Third, help providers reach out to and assist older New Yorkers develop personal emergency preparedness plans. Each of us, no matter what age, needs to be prepared to cope with emergencies in our own homes.

I am respectfully requesting that the City Council support CSCS by providing funding for CSCS’s curriculum development and training project for community-based service providers and community-dwelling older New Yorkers.

Your support of New York City’s older citizens has been, and continues to be, essential to their well-being. I look forward to working with you to ensure that our communities are prepared to address the needs of seniors at all times, including in times of crisis. 
Thank you.

The Blackout of 2003: Stories of Compassion & Commitment

In keeping abreast of our membership we recently sent out a survey in response to the Blackout of 2003 in order to find out what particular problems they encountered as a result of the power failure. We received an unprecedented number of returned surveys, clearly indicating that this is a timely topic, important to our members. 

This crisis illuminated just how vital senior centers are for the well being of the senior population and how lacking they are in Emergency Preparedness. 

While the centers fared fairly well as a result of overwhelming staff support most centers did not have a plan in place to deal with the situation. If not for the goodwill and commitment of many senior centers staff the centers would have been in dire straights. 

We would like to share with you some of the most common stories. The anecdotes demonstrate how hard New York City’s senior centers word everyday and their level of commitment to the seniors they serve. 

Among the most common, nevertheless heroic gestures were:

• Transportation was a major problem for the many seniors who have limited physical ability. Senior center staff was innovative in coming up with ideas to get the seniors into comfortable lodging. One center used their busses to transport seniors to a hotel when their high floor apartments became unsafe and it was unclear when the power would be restored.

• Many staff stayed overnight to be with seniors who were not able to get home. Staff at one center actually carried seniors up flights of stairs if the senior could not make it themselves

• Staff went to senior’s apartments to retrieve medication for those seniors who were stranded at the centers. In one case a social worker walked 40 blocks and climbed 30 flights of stairs to retrieve one clients medication.

• Many seniors did not have access to food. Staff members traveled by foot and on bike to bring water and food to the frail and isolated clients who would not otherwise be able to eat. At one Manhattan agency kitchen staff made it in from Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens, and they managed to make and deliver meals for the homebound elderly.

• Staff went outside their job descriptions to do what was needed. Drivers from one agency brought their friends and family to help delivering food and water, but also to comfort and bring information to isolated seniors.

• Staff checked up on senior center members, many of whom were scared and confused. For many the center is their only form of regular contact with the community. 

It is important to note that although the community was essential in helping seniors deal with the power outage the seniors and senior centers provided much needed services to their community.

• One center parked a van outside of the center in order to provide a rest stop that was used not only by seniors walking through the neighborhood. This center also made water and bathrooms available to all those who passed by, both young and old.

• One center became extremely popular as they distributed over 200 Ice Cream bars that would have melted in their freezers.