As disasters like wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes, and more seem to be happening more often, families must take extra precautions to prepare. However, emergency preparedness for a family of four will likely look much different than prep with a multigenerational household.
Multigenerational living has become increasingly popular in recent years due to rising costs, with 59.7 million people now living in multigenerational households. However, sharing a home with more relatives isn’t just about money; it’s also about community and having a bigger support system for raising kids and caregiving for elderly family members.
When prepping for disasters in a multigenerational household, however, there are many more individual needs to keep in mind. Preparing young children, for example, will be different from preparing senior family members, and there will need to be more delegation so everyone is clear on who is responsible for what.
So, let’s take a look at some tips and ideas for how you can prepare for disasters in your multigenerational household.
Disaster Preparedness for Seniors in a Multigenerational Household
Disaster preparedness for senior family members can sometimes get challenging because as people get older, they often start to develop more mental and physical health problems. This can include issues with seeing, hearing, mobility issues, chronic pain and chronic illness, cognitive impairments, and physical disabilities.
More than 30% of Americans over the age of 65 have some form of disability, and the percentage increases to 50% for those over the age of 75. So if you live in a multigenerational household with multiple older adults and senior family members, it is likely that one or more of them will have a disability, impairment, or illness that will make it harder for them to deal with a disaster.
Thus, it is crucial that your family take extra care to help the older members of your family prepare, as they might not be able to take care of themselves.
Create a Plan
First, your family should come up with an overall plan for how you will handle the types of disasters that could happen in your area. This includes learning about the disasters, having an evacuation or travel plan, learning about community response plans, signing up for alerts and warnings, and having a communication plan like a list of who to call and their phone numbers to keep everyone informed.
You should also choose one or two meeting places where all of your family members can meet. The chances that you are all already together when disaster strikes are slim, so it’s important to have a plan for how you will communicate and where you will meet to ensure everyone is safe and together.
It’s also important to designate certain family members to take care of different things ahead of time, such as who is going to make sure everyone has their emergency kits, who is responsible for transportation, and who is going to be responsible for certain family members, like grandma in her wheelchair, grandpa with his dementia, and Uncle Jack with his diabetes and bad leg.
Exercise Mock-Disaster Scenarios
When you have a lot of family members in one house, especially elderly members who might have trouble getting around, it’s important to run through scenarios so everyone knows exactly what to do and who they are responsible for when the time comes.
Helping an older family member who has dementia or who is in a wheelchair, for example, is much different than running out the door with just two healthy adults and two kids who are easy to pick up and carry. So it’s important to play out scenarios with each family member until the action plan is like second nature.
Getting elderly family members involved in disaster preparedness activities can also help them maintain their memory and physical health. As adults get older, they tend to become less active, which can diminish their cognitive functions and their mobility faster. But if they stay active and challenge their brains more often, it can help them stay in better shape.
So practicing mock disaster scenarios isn’t just helpful for being better prepared, but it can also keep older family members sharper and on their toes.
Asses Physical, Medical, and Cognitive Needs
When dealing with older family members during a disaster, it’s important to plan ahead for their specific health needs. If certain family members have limited mobility, for example, you will need to make a very specific emergency plan for their mobility impairment and what they will need when disaster strikes.
This includes knowing exactly where mobility aids are at all times like wheelchairs, canes, or walkers, designating someone specifically to help that family member get where they need to be, and making a plan for how that family member will be transported if you need to travel or evacuate.
You should also prepare a medical kit for each family member that has extra needs. And this should be done in addition to traditional disaster preparedness kits, which everyone in your family should also have.
But those elderly individuals with additional physical and mental needs should have an extra kit along with their normal disaster preparedness kit that includes their medical needs. This can include things like medical supplies, health monitors, hearing aids, spare eyeglasses, and medications, like pain meds for family members living with chronic pain and chronic illness.
You should also include copies of important medical documents in their kits in case they get separated and someone needs to know how to care for them and what their needs are.
Consider Medical Training
When disaster strikes, senior family members with health problems might not have access to medical professionals. So it can be helpful for members of your household to take some classes to learn how to care for the needs of your older family members themselves.
This can be just some basic first aid and CPR classes, or you can look into more specific senior caregiving classes that address specific health needs. If you already have a nurse or other medical professional that looks in on your elderly family members, you can ask if you can watch what they do to learn from them in case you need to do these things yourself in an emergency situation.
Preparedness for Children in Multigenerational Households
If there are younger children in your multigenerational household, they will also need special care in emergency situations. However, how you handle children will differ from how you handle senior family members.
Be Mindful of Emotional States When Creating an Emergency Plan for Children
Just as you would with senior family members or any family member, you also need to create a disaster plan with children in the household. However, you need to be more mindful of how you talk to younger children when creating your plan, as their emotional state is more fragile.
Younger children can get scared and overwhelmed more easily when talking about disasters and emergency situations. So before making a plan for what they need to do, make sure you talk to them first to help them understand what disasters and emergencies are and why it’s important to prepare for them.
It’s important to let them know that you are there for them and will help them, but it’s also essential to teach them how to be independent and take care of themselves. You never know what could happen in an emergency situation, and children in the family could be left alone to fend for themselves.
So while you don’t want to scare them by making them think they will need to take care of everything themselves, it’s a good idea to teach children some survival skills so they can learn how to protect themselves in an emergency if necessary.
Play Emergency Scenario Games
Getting younger children to participate in serious mock-disaster scenarios can be hard at first. Thinking about being in such a situation can be scary for them. So instead of jumping right into mock scenarios that are a little too realistic, try turning it into a game that is a little more light and child-friendly.
Then, once you think they are ready, you can shift from emergency scenario games to more realistic run-throughs and mock scenarios. Part of these games and scenarios can also be about teaching them not just what to do themselves but also about helping their family and making sure everyone is safe.
Designate Family Members to Take Care of Young Children
If there are really young kids in your multigenerational household, like toddlers and infants, you will need to designate someone to be in charge of them as part of your emergency plan. Some kids in the family will likely be able to learn what to do and take care of themselves, but younger children will need a lot of help.
So just as you would designate family members in the house to take care of certain senior family members that have extra needs, you will also need to designate individuals to take care of the youngest children in the household. This includes making sure young children and infants have their kits and anything else they need and making sure they get where they need to go, such as in car seats or strollers if you need to evacuate and travel.
Disaster Preparedness for Teens and Healthy Adults in Multigenerational Households
Those in your household who are healthy, strong, and able will likely carry the brunt of the responsibilities when prepping for disaster. Children and seniors will not be able to take care of themselves as easily, if at all, so everyone else in the household will have to take care of themselves and the children and seniors.
This is where designating duties and responsibilities will come in handy. Choose who will be in charge of helping make emergency kits and medical kits, in charge of children, who will take care of the elderly family members that need help, who will be in charge of meeting points, in charge of communication, in charge of transportation, etc.
It’s not uncommon for one person to take over as the leader, but in a multigenerational household with so many more people and things to worry about, it’s best if you split up responsibilities. When the time comes, that one person who was in charge might not be around, so it’s wise to have more than one family member in charge of different tasks.
Rely on Your Community for Support
Because multigenerational households have so many more people to manage and take care of, it can be incredibly helpful to build a support network outside of your home. Community can enhance your preparedness with a multigenerational household and help you ease some of the burdens that your family members might feel.
So when creating a plan and a communication network, don’t forget to identify others in your community that can help. This can include other family members that live outside your household, neighbors, friends, and even caregivers that might be available to help.
Once you’ve identified other helpers in your community, you should meet with them to asses your household’s needs and form a plan. For example, if you have a neighbor that lives alone or a young couple, they might be more able to spare their time and resources to help you in an emergency, such as handling the children while you take care of the seniors with medical needs.
Once your community support plan is formed, make sure you include these helpers in your communication plan and list of contact numbers. And make sure you familiarize children and seniors in your family with these community helpers so they know they can trust them and lean on them for support should disaster strike.
Wrapping Up
All families and households should have an emergency plan for disasters, but multigenerational households especially need to prepare and plan as there are so many more people and things to manage and worry about. With so many more family members in your home, logistics can get more complicated, and it can be harder to keep track of everyone. So it’s crucial that you plan accordingly and pay special attention to the individual needs of children and older family members that may need extra care.
[Note: This was a guest post.]
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