The Hartford

What's different about disaster planning if you are providing care for someone with dementia or memory disorder? Family caregivers face additional challenges during a disaster. Changes in routine or surroundings can be very disturbing for some people with Alzheimer's disease or dementia. Having a plan helps you, as the caregiver, to function calmly, which is paramount to keeping your loved one calm and safe.

Here are 10 important tips to think about as you put together a disaster plan.

1. Build a large and diverse network that includes people outside of your day-to-day support system, but who are familiar with your loved one's memory disorder.
2. Designate a substitute caregiver to assist your family member if a disaster is imminent or strikes while they are home alone.
3. Do not assume your professional caregiver has a plan. Develop one together.
4. Have an evacuation plan. The decision to evacuate is especially complex when someone with Alzheimer's is involved.  Research where you would go. Expect noisy and crowded conditions at public disaster shelters, which could exacerbate challenging behaviors. If you need to go do not delay, you do not want to be in traffic for hours or even days.
5. Consider what strategy you would use to get your loved one to leave quickly and calmly. Anticipate resistance. Use tactics that have been successful in the past such using a favorite possession or food to encourage cooperation.
6. Prepare a disaster kit with basic supplies as well as extra medications and copies of important papers. Expect that your loved one may have forgotten where items are stored.
7. Pack familiar, comforting items to keep your loved one occupied en route and while away, such as a portable DVD player, favorite books, pictures, music, games and comfortable clothes.
8. Sign up for the Alzheimer's Association Safe Return/Medic Alert program, which can give assistance if your loved one wanders. Six out of 10 people with Alzheimer's disease will wander at some point and this behavior is more likely under stress.
9. Plan for pets, too. As difficult as it can be for anyone to be separated from pets in a crisis, for a person with Alzheimer's this separation can be even more upsetting.
10. Revaluate your plan as your loved one's disease progresses. His or her functional ability two months from now might be very different from what it is today.

The Hartford's Advance 50 Team of gerontologists and the MIT Age Lab have studied the special needs of family caregivers of those with Alzheimer's disease during a severe weather event such as a hurricane, flood or tornado. The result of their work is a guide called The Calm Before The Storm: Family Conversations about Disaster Planning, Caregiving, Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia.

The Guide is the first comprehensive natural disaster planning guide specifically created for caregivers, families and friends of those with memory disorders. Please click here to download a PDF version of the Guide, or order printed copies, at http://www.thehartford.com/advance50/publications-on-aging

This brochure is designed to educate readers and assist them in understanding the importance of planning for a disaster. It is not intended to be an exhaustive source or to relate to any particular disaster situation. Readers are advised to consult family members and the necessary professionals to assist them in analyzing their individual situation.