Helping Patients Plan for their Health in Disaster or Emergency
There are certain people that are more at risk from disaster and emergency events including:
- People who have a disability
- People who rely on electricity for life-sustaining and assistive technology
- Older people
- People with chronic health conditions
- People who live by themselves or have limited social connections
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
- People from Culturally and Linguistically diverse backgrounds
- Pregnant women and Children
- Those with limited finances
It’s important for them to:
- Know their disaster risks
- Know their health risks
- Make a plan and be prepared
- Make arrangements to have access to medication, and
- Know how they will stay informed and will access support in an emergency
Local organisations that can help patients with making a plan are:
Remember, local emergency services can help too with services such as FREE Fire and Safety Home Safety Visits and RFS AIDER programs.
Knowing Their Risk
In our region, we can be subject to multiple hazards including bushfires, storms, flash flooding, riverine flooding, heatwave, power and communication outages, road and bridge closures and more.
Emergency Services websites have tools to help patients identify risks:
They can talk with local experts about your risks by searching your local emergency service:
Often emergencies will be followed by other risks such as power outages and road and bridge closures which can result in assistance delays. Services could be unavailable for an extended time.
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Knowing Their Health Risks
If your patient has chronic illness, disability or other risk factors - they may be more susceptible to the impacts of natural disasters such as extreme heat. It is good for them to be prepared for when a natural disaster or an emergency occurs.
It's important patients understand that being prepared means having a plan in place to ensure they have all the medicines, equipment and supplies they need on hand or readily accessible, and contacts for medical services such as yourself available, in the event of a natural disaster or emergency.
Encouraging your patients to make a plan and be prepared
Creating a Plan
- Everyone should fill in a Rediplanor similar from Get Ready NSW.
- They can create a plan on their phone or device with the Get Prepared App
- If they have a disability, rely on specific equipment to live or have other specific health or care needs you can complete a Person-Centred Emergency Preparedness (P-CEP) plan.
- They should be advised to keep their plan with their emergency kit in a safe place. It’s important to share their plan with family and carers.
Important help you can provide to your patients to be prepared
There are some things patients may need to prepare for to ensure they keep safe and well in an emergency, especially if they or someone they care for has a chronic health condition.
My Health Record
This is one of the most important things you can encourage and help patients to have and keep up to date as part of their Emergency Plan.
In emergencies, it will mean any healthcare provider will be able to access the patient’s medical details through My Health Record.
Its important patients understand this is a secure platform to store their medical history, allergies and medications online and it is important they set this up if they don’t have it before an emergency or disaster.
Patients can download the My Health app or access online here My Health Record. Health professionals are encouraged to learn more about My Health Record.
Often patients don’t know they can upload content to the My Health Record themselves that is helpful in disaster or emergency events including:
- preferred language
- country of birth
- emergency contact details
- advance care planning documents
- personal health summaries and
- personal health notes.
Having a current shared health summary in My Health Record may be very useful in a disaster or emergency should a patient be required to access other health services, including:
- current medicines
- past medical history
- allergies and adverse reactions
- immunisations/vaccinations
A shared health summary can be created during any consultation. You may feel it is useful to create and upload a new shared health summary when:
- Completing a patient health assessment (for example, a GP management plan or health check)
- There have been significant changes to a patient’s medical conditions, medicines, allergies, adverse reactions or immunisations.
- Assembling an Emergency Kit: including essential supplies for their condition
- Preparing for Power Outage: including storing medication safely and ensuring continued access to life-sustaining equipment. Including creating a Power Outage Plan.
- Establishing a Support Network: arrangr for a neighbour, friend, or family member to check in or assist if they need to evacuate, particularly if they don’t drive or own a car.
Accessing medication
During a natural disaster or emergency, patients may need to leave their home. It is important they are prepared with enough medication, access to their prescriptions and any medical records they may need. If they leave home without prescriptions or medicines or they are lost, they can:
- Contact their doctor: who can send a prescription to a nearby pharmacy, visit the healthdirect website or call 1800 022 222 to speak to a health professional for advice.
- Speak to a pharmacist: in a declared emergency they can provide a 3-day emergency supply of many medicines without a prescription.
- Set up Active Script List: so their pharmacist or a doctor can then access Electronic Prescriptions in an emergency.
- Request an eScript: doctors can send an electronic prescription up to 7 days.
- Use telehealth: if they can’t access their doctor we suggest they may find a telehealth provider using the healthdirect service finder.
Staying Informed and Accessing Care
Its very important in disasters and emergencies at-risk patients know how they can find where to access a doctor, pharmacy or urgent care.
They should include in their Emergency Plan your contact details and that they can visit healthdirect.gov.au or call 1800 022 222 for 24-hour health advice and reminded in an emergency to call 000.
In an emergency event they can stay informed through the local Council’s Emergency dashboard, emergency services, the Hazards Near Me App and the ABC 702AM.
You can refer your patients to our Disaster and Emergency Information including additional information and resources for specific at-risk patient groups to help them plan and prepare for emergency and disasters.
More information
If you would like support or if we can help in any way, please reach out to your Primary Care Engagement Officer or contact our Disaster and Emergency Coordinator by email or by phone on 4708 8100.
