When trouble strikes, everyone is at a disadvantage. And with “superstorms” a year-by-year occurrence, being prepared is more important than ever. For the people you work for, the difference between safety and danger—or perhaps even life and death—may depend upon your ability to respond, calmly and capably.

The College of Personal Assistance and Caregiving (CPAC) developed a new course to address this important issue. Being Prepared for an Emergency is the newest course in the DirectCourse/CPAC curriculum, directed toward educating home care providers, family caregivers, and even the individuals receiving services.

“Considering Typhoon Hayian, SuperStorm Sandy, the Tsunami, and Katrina, among others, our initial motivation for this course was the fact that emergency preparedness is an important topic for everyone, everywhere,” says Mel Neri, Project Coordinator for CPAC. “Secondarily, but no less important, after Katrina it became apparent that people with disabilities and older adults weren’t always represented in the emergency preparedness (EP) plans of local, state, and national responders.”

Neri points out that EP plans often failed to consider individuals’ mobility limitations or access issues. Often, they failed to provide communications in alternate and accessible formats, among other setbacks. As a result of these events, people have been taking a much closer look at the needs of people with disabilities and older adults during emergencies.

“What’s nice about CPAC’s Being Prepared for an Emergency course is that not only does it address the EP needs of people with disabilities and older adults, but the information presented can also be of use to anyone when preparing for emergencies,” she adds.

As an additional benefit, caregivers and home care providers may find this course relevant not just for their provider/caregiver roles, but also on a personal level. Armed with this information, they will be more prepared not just on the job, but also at their own home and with their own family. Anytime. Anywhere.

Created by the Center for Personal Assistance Services at the University of California, San Francisco, in collaboration with the University of Minnesota’s Research and Training Center, Being Prepared for an Emergency, like all of CPAC’s courses, utilizes the Elsevier Performance Manager, which allows supervisors and managers a variety of tools to measure effectiveness.

For more information about the College of Personal Assistance and Caregiving: http://directcourseonline.com/personalassistance/

For more information about CPAC’s Being Prepared for an Emergency course, please visit: http://directcourseonline.com/personalassistance/curriculum/#course08