Emergency Planning Guide captures worldwide attention
A Gore initiative aimed at helping our older community members be better prepared for emergency situations has gained international plaudits.
Emergency Management Southland (EMS) and the Gore District Council (GDC) teamed up to produce GDC’s Emergency Planning Guide for Older People, which has captured the attention of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
EMS response advisor Tracey Fraser and GDC’s Ready for Living coordinator Kylie Aitken were the team that drove the project. Kylie identified the need for older people in her community to have the essentials on hand, and processes in place, should they encounter an emergency situation.
An increase in community services and in-home assistance means older generations can live in their own homes for longer, compared to years gone by. That means it is even more vital for older people to be prepared in case of an emergency because those vital services may be cut off in a natural disaster.
The Gore emergency planning booklet addresses many of those challenges, helping set up processes such as evacuation plans and meal and medication preparedness. After helping develop the Gore booklet, EMS produced a guide for all of Southland.
The Gore planning guide received excellent uptake, and soon an outstanding international response grew. Gore has had the WHO ‘age-friendly cities and communities recognition’ since 2020 and shared the emergency planning guide as their annual ‘age-friendly practice’.
They even wanted Kylie to head over to Sharjah to present at its Elderly Services Forum.
“They came back to us and asked if I would give a talk at their Older Persons International Forum,” Kylie says.
The international recognition hasn’t stopped with the WHO. Councils across New Zealand and overseas have replicated the Gore and Southland planning guides to fill gaps in their resources.
“The number of people wanting to replicate it in New Zealand and internationally has been awesome,” Kylie says.
Since the release of the Gore booklet, Kylie has seen an increase in preparedness first hand, through her work in the community.
“A lot of older people I have spoken to have gone out and got gas cookers, water and started thinking about the medication they have on hand. It has resulted in older people thinking about what they have at their house in case there is an emergency.”
Emergency Management Southland recognised that printing a booklet was the best way to communicate key messages to the elder generations.
“So much of this type of information is available online now, but there is still an older generation that doesn’t have access to computers, or aren’t computer savvy,” Tracey said. “They are slowly losing access to information about what they need to be thinking about if an emergency situation were to happen.”
The Gore guide is available at the Gore District Council office and Mataura Library, while the Southland guide is available at most Southland District Council Libraries and the Invercargill City Library. Both guides are also available at Emergency Management Southland's office at Environment Southland in Invercargill.
