In a regional meeting Thursday in Hagerstown, local emergency management officials, people with disabilities and service providers brainstormed ways to ensure that an often neglected segment of the population isn't left behind.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, ``it has become apparent that little preparation had been focused on the special needs of individuals with a wide variety of disabilities,'' according to the state Department of Disabilities, which organized the meeting and three others around the state. The first was held Tuesday in Wye Mills; the others are Nov. 12 in LaPlata and Nov. 22 in Columbia.
The issues that emerged during Thursday's discussion included problems with communication, transportation and identification of special-needs individuals. Overriding it all was the need to avoid violating medical privacy laws.
One proposed solution was voluntary registration to create a database that would inform emergency responders of the locations and needs of disabled people in their communities.
Carl T. Cameron, president of the Washington-based Disabilities Preparedness Center, said the need for such information became painfully obvious during the Sept. 11 attack on the Pentagon, where he said some disabled people were left in their workplaces because they didn't hear of the disaster.
``There are lot of issues that come up _ people say, 'I don't want to be registered' and 'You're not registering everybody; you only want to register people with disabilities,''' Cameron said.
But emergency responders can't know who needs assistance unless the disabled tell them, said Verna Brown, emergency management coordinator for Washington County.
``If we don't know where you are, if we don't know what you need, if we don't know what you can do, we can't help you,'' she said.
No disabled people at the Hagerstown meeting objected to a voluntary registry. Dianne Vander Weyden, a Frederick woman with cerebral palsy who uses a wheelchair, said she would gladly provide the information.
``If all that means is telling where I am and what my disability is so you can assist me, that's all right with me,'' she said.
Julie Platt, of Cumberland, whose husband, Richard, is a quadriplegic, said they wouldn't hesitate to register. ``If I'm not home and he's home alone and the house catches fire, what's he going to do?''
One such registry has been operating for 10 years in Harford County, said Douglas Richmond, the county's emergency management director. He said about 3,500 people have returned forms that his office mails annually to all 97,000 households in the county.
When emergency workers are sent to their homes, the 911 dispatcher transmits the special-needs information to a printer at the responding firehouse instead of announcing it on the air, Richmond said.
``The thing is, we need to get the message across to the emergency responders what they're going to find at the scene so they know that there are special needs,'' Richmond said.
