New Orleans Senior AdvisorHow do I plan a hurricane evacuation for an older parent in New Orleans?
Decide before hurricane season where your parent will go, who will drive, what leaves with them, and at what point you leave, because older adults are safest evacuating early, before traffic, heat and contraflow make the trip harder.
A good plan names a destination with family or a booked room inland, lists medications and doses, packs at least a week's supply, copies insurance cards, Medicare and Medicaid cards and a short medical summary, and includes chargers, glasses, hearing aids and mobility equipment. Put it in writing and give copies to everyone involved.
What if a parent cannot evacuate on their own?
Contact the parish's emergency preparedness office before the season to ask about its program for residents who need help evacuating or depend on electricity for medical equipment, because each of the six parishes runs its own registry and assisted-evacuation arrangements.
In New Orleans the city runs an assisted evacuation program for residents without a way to leave; the other parishes have their own. Registries are not a guarantee of a ride; they help officials plan. Ask your parent's home health agency, PACE team or LT-PCS provider what its emergency plan is for clients, since licensed providers must plan for emergencies.
What about a parent who depends on oxygen or dialysis?
Plan for the power and the treatment: arrange backup oxygen and a ride well before landfall, tell the dialysis center where your parent is going, and ask the utility and the parish about programs for people who rely on power for medical equipment.
Heat is as dangerous as wind for older adults after a storm. If power may be out for days, a parent who stays home needs a cool place to go. Ask the parish where cooling and special-needs shelters will open.
Should a parent in assisted living evacuate with the family instead?
Families may take a parent with them, but tell the provider early so its count is right, take medications and the care plan, and confirm when and how your parent can return, because an evacuated Louisiana ARCP cannot re-open until LDH authorizes it.
Every Louisiana ARCP must have a written evacuation and shelter-in-place plan, give residents a copy of its procedures, identify each resident, and report residents' locations to LDH within 48 hours of any change from its host site. Ask what the disaster-fee formula is before the season, not during the storm.
What should families ask a senior care provider about hurricanes?
Ask for the resident copy of the evacuation procedures, the host site, the generator list and fuel plan, how medications travel, how families are notified, and the written disaster-fee formula Louisiana requires ARCPs to disclose.
For nursing homes, ask the same questions, plus where residents went in the last evacuation and how long the trip took. See Louisiana's emergency planning rules and hurricane questions.
Sources include LAC 48:I.Chapter 68 (adult residential care providers), the Louisiana Department of Health's Health Standards Section and Office of Aging and Adult Services pages, the Governor's Office of Elderly Affairs, CareScout and VA rate tables as cited above; see our editorial standards.
