Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T02:02:33.370Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Using the Law to Promote the Mental Health of Older Adults during Disasters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Lainie Rutkow ,
Jon S. Vernick ,
Adam P. Spira  and
Daniel J. Barnett
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

When a disaster occurs, adults over age 65 may be disproportionately impacted due to sensory deficits, chronic health conditions, diminished social support and isolation, and financial limitations. Although older adults comprised approximately 15 percent of the New Orleans population, they accounted for over 70 percent of the fatalities associated with Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Disasters can also impact older adults’ morbidity, as a disaster may disrupt established habits and routines (e.g., timing of medication administration) and result in removal from a familiar environment, promoting disorientation. This may raise particular challenges for older adults with mental and physical co-morbidities, and subsequently for their formal and informal caregivers.

While some older adults may need care for physical health problems following a disaster, mental health needs are often overlooked or unmet. One study of Hurricane Katrina survivors found that, compared to older adults, middle-aged individuals were twice as likely to have received mental health services in the eight months after the hurricane.

Type
Supplement
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 41 , Issue S1 , Spring 2013 , pp. 80 - 83
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Fernandez, L. S. Byard, D. and Lin, C. C. et al., “Frail Elderly as Disaster Victims: Emergency Management Strategies” Prehospital & Disaster Medicine 17, no. 2(2002):67–74; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Identifying Vulnerable Older Adults and Legal Options for Increasing Their Protection During All-Hazards Emergencies (Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2012).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC's Disaster Planning Goal: Protect Vulnerable Older Adults, available at <http://www.cdc.gov/aging/pdf/disaster_planning_goal.pdf> (last visited January 11, 2013). (last visited January 11, 2013).' href=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Centers+for+Disease+Control+and+Prevention,+CDC's+Disaster+Planning+Goal:+Protect+Vulnerable+Older+Adults,+available+at++(last+visited+January+11,+2013).>Google Scholar
Geriatric Mental Health Foundation, “Older Adults and Disaster: Preparedness and Response,” 2009, available at <http://www.gmhfonline.org/gmhf/consumer/disaster_prprdns.html> (last visited January 11, 2013).+(last+visited+January+11,+2013).>Google Scholar
Wang, P. S. Gruber, M. J. and Powers, R. E. et al., “Mental Health Service Use among Hurricane Katrina Survivors in the Eight Months After the Disaster” Psychiatric Services 58, no. 11(2007): 1403–1411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
See Fernandez, et al., supra note 1; see also Langan, J. C. and Palmer, J. L. “Listening to and Learning from Older Adult Hurricane Katrina Survivors” Public Health Nursing 29, no. 2(2012): 126–135.Google Scholar
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicare Program – General Information (2012), available at <http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Medicare-General-Information/Medicare-GenInfo/index.html> (last visited January 11, 2013); Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicare & Your Mental Health Benefits (June 2012), available at <http://www.medicare.gov/publications/pubs/pdf/10184.pdf> (last visited January 11, 2013).+(last+visited+January+11,+2013);+Centers+for+Medicare+&+Medicaid+Services,+Medicare+&+Your+Mental+Health+Benefits+(June+2012),+available+at++(last+visited+January+11,+2013).>Google Scholar
42 U.S.C. § 1320b-5 (2012).Google Scholar
E.g., 42 U.S.C. § 5121 et seq. (2012).Google Scholar
42 U.S.C. § 201 et seq. (2012).Google Scholar
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicare Fee-For-Service: Emergency-Related Policies and Procedures That May Be Implemented without 1135 Waivers (June 2012).Google Scholar
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Requesting an 1135 Waiver (November 2009), available at <http://www.cms.gov/About-CMS/Agency-Information/H1N1/downloads/RequestingAWaiver101.pdf> (last visited January 11, 2013).+(last+visited+January+11,+2013).>Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Severe Storms and Tornadoes in Missouri 2011 (May 2011), available at <http://www.phe.gov/emergency/news/healthactions/section1135/Pages/missouri-tornado2011.aspx> (last visited January 11, 2013).+(last+visited+January+11,+2013).>Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Waiver or Modification of Requirements Under Section 1135 of the Social Security Act (October 2009), available at <http://www.phe.gov/emergency/news/healthactions/section1135/Documents/1135WaiverSigned_H1N1.pdf> (last visited January 11, 2013).+(last+visited+January+11,+2013).>Google Scholar
Thompson, L. W. Spira, A. P. and Depp, C. A. et al., “The Geriatric Caregiver” in Maletta, G. and Agronin, M. E., eds., Principles and Practice of Geriatric Psychiatry (Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, 2006): at 37–48.Google Scholar
Moye, J. and Marson, D. C. “Assessment of Decision-Making Capacity in Older Adults: An Emerging Area of Practice and Research” Journals of Gerontology Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 62, no. 1(2007): P3–P11; Gallo, N. R., Elder Law (Clifton Park, NY: Delmar, Cengage Learning, 2009).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Nursing Home Emergency Preparedness and Response During Recent Hurricanes OEI-06-06-00020 (August 2006).Google Scholar
Emergency Management Assistance Compact, EMAC Articles of Agreement (1996), available at <http://www.emacweb.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=155&Itemid=271> (last visited January 15, 2013).+(last+visited+January+15,+2013).>Google Scholar
National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, Uniform Emergency Volunteer Health Practitioners Act (2007), available at <http://www.facs.org/ahp/uevhpa-model-bill.pdf> (last visited January 11, 2013).+(last+visited+January+11,+2013).>Google Scholar
Toner, J. A. and Alami, O. “A Primer for Disaster and Emergency Preparedness and Evidence-Based Care Practices in Geriatric Mental Health” in Toner, J. A., ed., Geriatric Mental Health Disaster and Emergency Preparedness (New York: Springer Publishing Company, 2010): at 3–30.Google Scholar
Hall, N. “Older Persons in Disasters and Emergencies: The Overlapping Mental and Physical Health Issues” in Toner, J. A., ed., Geriatric Mental Health Disaster and Emergency Preparedness (New York: Springer Publishing Company, 2010): at 31–46.Google Scholar
Rutkow, L. Vernick, J. S. and Wissow, L. S. et al., “Prescribing Authority during Emergencies: Challenges for Mental Health Care Providers” Journal of Legal Medicine 32, no. 3(2011): 249–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fla. Stat. § 252.358 (2012).Google Scholar
Administration on Aging, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “Aging Statistics,” 2011, available at <http://www.aoa.gov/aoaroot/aging_statistics/index.aspx> (last visited January 11, 2013).+(last+visited+January+11,+2013).>Google Scholar
Grant, W. and Sanders, D. M. “Coordinating Services: State and Local Networks and Resources” in Toner, J. A., ed., Geriatric Mental Health Disaster and Emergency Preparedness (New York: Springer Publishing Company, 2010): at 67–82.Google Scholar