With two Lake effect snow storms already under the belt Western New York’s winter season is now fully underway. And although handling the snow is just the way of life, sometimes it is just too much to handle. When Snow and ice accumulation become so much to making driving difficult, or leaving the house a challenge, this can become an especially troubling sign for disabled community members. Disabled community members who may need to leave the house to retrieve necessary medication or are without the resources to stay in the house for an extended period of time. Jeff Peters the Director of Communications for the Center for Independence of the Disabled New York, an organization based in New York City, provided valuable tips for disabled community members during inclement weather events. The first tip being sure that you are stocked up on necessities.
“If a storm hits and you're unable to leave your home, or perhaps you're unable to even receive deliveries, you need to make sure that you have the items that you need. This could mean food. It could mean medication. It could mean batteries. It could even mean distilled water. For some medical devices, you need to make sure that you have a plan and you have these items on hand and stocked in case you're unable to get them when something occurs.”
Further reiterating this point is Stephanie Orlando the Chief Operating Officer for Western New York Independent Living Center. She says their organization offers workshops where you can make a kit with much of the necessities mentioned by Jeff Peters.
“What we do is we help people prepare a personal emergency preparedness plan. And what that will do is kind of help them identify what are the basic needs that they have for their disability, like different things that they need to have in maybe a “go” bag so that if their power goes out in their home and they need to go to a shelter. What would be the things that they would need to bring with them, or what are the things that they would need to shelter in place, at home and be able to maintain safety.”
Peters was also sure to mention that a share of the responsibility still lies with the government, and their ability to effectively plow snow in a timely manner so people can safely travel.
“A lot of times we find that snow removal is left to whoever does it when they're forced to do it. We need to make sure that those places are shoveled and the things that you can do is one, make sure that you are contacting local officials or emergency services to make sure that they are aware that something has either not been dug out of the snow, the snow has not been removed, or the snow has been packed on a corner, which is limiting visibility or impeding people from going down sidewalks or getting into the streets or crossing streets.”
To hear the full interview please view the following video How to prepare for inclement weather | Disabilities Beat BONUS
