Disasters have a greater impact on individuals with access and
functional needs. Individuals with access and functional
needs can include:
People with disabilities
People with chronic illness
Older adults
Children
Pregnant women
People who live in institutional settings
People with pharmacological dependency
People with limited access to transportation
People of low socioeconomic status
People experiencing homelessness
Limited English proficiency/non-English speakers
To mitigate the impact of disasters on these populations, it is
important to identify their needs before, during, and following
disasters by including them in emergency planning.
The AFN Guidebook is a tool hospital emergency managers can use
to broaden their understanding of diverse AFN communities while
empowering them to develop hospital policies and procedures, risk
assessments, and Emergency Operations Plans (EOPs) capable of
meeting the complexities associated with serving the AFN
community during disasters.
Presenters:
Kevin Muszynski, Project Manager,
Support Services
Steve Storbakken, Director, Emergency
Preparedness & Environment of Care Compliance, Pomona Valley
Hospital Medical Center
L. Vance Taylor, Chief, Office of
Access and Functional Needs, California Governor’s Office of
Emergency Services
This guidebook
and tool was funded through a grant from the California
Community Foundation and is presented as a free reference tool to
help Hospital Emergency Managers prepare, plan and conduct
exercises and training with local AFN communities. This tool
was developed for, and is intended for use by, emergency
management professionals in the healthcare industry.
All agency and organization websites selected for inclusion in
the ‘Access and Functional Needs (AFN) Hospital Disaster
Guidebook’ and any and all designations of ‘best practice’ have
been made under the direction of Steven Storbakken, Director of
Emergency Preparedness & Environmental Safety, Pomona Valley
Hospital Medical Center (PVHMC). Mr. Storbakken used his
extensive experience and expertise in hospital disaster
management to compile the listings in this tool.
In 2008, California established the Office of Access and
Functional Needs (OAFN) within the Governor’s Office of Emergency
Services.
The purpose of OAFN is to identify the needs of individuals with
disabilities and others with access or functional needs before,
during, and after disasters and to integrate them into the
State’s emergency management systems.
OAFN utilizes a whole community approach by offering training and
guidance to emergency managers and planners, disability advocates
and other service providers responsible for planning for,
responding to and helping communities recover from disasters. In
short, OAFN plans for the realities of disasters by integrating
access and functional needs into everything Cal OES does
including partnership development, outreach, training, guidance
and providing technical assistance.
