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Special Needs Liberty-Hinesville Emergency Management Agency Special Needs Persons There is a variety of definitions and meanings for the term "special needs". For purposes of this plan, the term is defined as any person requiring assistance with some facet of daily living and/or under the care (or charge) of others, either on a part-time or full time basis. While this is admittedly a broad definition and goes beyond health-related or medical applications, it is used here to pertain to those who will require unusual or enhanced evacuation and sheltering assistance. Those citizens residing at home who will require transportation assistance, a higher level of medical care than can be provided in a regular public shelter, and do not have anyone to provide all the care needed, evacuation and sheltering assistance will also be provided (to the degree that available resources permit). This category of "special needs" is perhaps the most difficult to provide for because of the numbers of people involved and the lack of legally responsible "care providers" which the other categories have. Registry Home Health nursing agencies, County Public Health, and LHEMA volunteers will develop and maintain a "Special Needs" Registry for citizens failing into this category. Immediately after a Hurricane Watch is issued and the EOC is fully activated, all registrants will be contacted on their status and will be informed to begin preparing for possible evacuation if and when a Warning and Mandatory evacuation order are issued. Once this is imminent they will be re-contacted and told to be ready to evacuate. They will be expected to have their own extra clothing, medical equipment and supplies, medicines, etc. ready to go with them. If they have a personal care-giver a family member) that person will be expected to be ready and accompany them. Evacuation Evacuees will be initially transported to on-site triage/assessment centers at the facilities which have been pre-designated for them. There they will be triaged for a final determination as to whether their needs can be satisfactorily met in a public shelter, if they actually require admission in a hospital, or if they should still be placed in a "Special Needs" setting as originally registered for. They will then be taken to the appropriate facility. (Unregistered "call ins" will be triaged in the same fashion.) Sheltering Shelter staffing will be provided in the same manner as for a regular public shelter with the following exceptions and additions. Either ARC personnel or other trained volunteers will oversee general operations, but will not be responsible for the direct medical care of the "Special Needs" evacuees themselves and will not provide for any special diets. Additional medical personnel in the form of physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists and paramedics will attend to the needs of the "Special Needs" evacuees. These individuals will be volunteers and not drawn from on-duty staff at the hospitals. Also, additional volunteers will be used to help load, unload and move evacuees into the shelters. If additional medical personnel or supplies are needed, they will be requested from the State Department of Human Resources through the State Operations Center.