ALFRED McCOMBER:  Well, good morning, and welcome to another episode of the Code Red! radio show, dedicated to your personal security, your safety, and of course your emergency preparedness.  This is your host Alfred McComber, and we're so excited you're joining us today.

Our special guests today include Pat Pound, a presidential appointee to the National Council on Disability.  She chairs the independent federal agency's homeland security committee.  We're also joined by Martin Gould, who is the National Council on Disability's director of research.  Both Pat and Martin are joining us live to talk about the work and mission of the National Council on Disability, and effective emergency management and disaster planning for people with disabilities.

Also, later on in our broadcast we'll be joined by Eileen Fitzgerald, the chief operating officer of NeighborWorks America.  She's going to be stopping by the show live to discuss the brand new loan modification scam alert education campaign that the U.S. Congress asked NeighborWorks America to develop to help empower homeowners and educate them about the dangers of home loan modification scams.

So some great information we'll be sharing with you today that can help keep you safe and secure.  This issue of loan modifications has just been going crazy.  A lot of scams out there.  We're very excited Eileen will be joining us later.

Right now, it's my pleasure to introduce Pat Pound.  Since 2002, Pat has served as a presidential appointee to the National Council on Disability and chairs NCD's homeland security committee.  Pat is currently a disability consultant after spending 30 years in disability policy with the state of Texas.  She is currently working with the Open Doors Organization, the University of Texas, the Department of Nursing, the National Fire Prevention Association Disability Advisory Committee, and a local company with a GPS video information device.

Also, we have Martin Gould.  He is the NCD's director of research.  He actually joined the staff of NCD back in January of 2000.  Prior to that time, he worked as the director of outcomes research for an international human services nonprofit, and he took his doctorate in education from Johns Hopkins University in 1985.
Pat and Martin, welcome to the Code Red! show.

MARTIN GOULD:  Good morning.

PATRICIA POUND:  Thank you.

ALFRED McCOMBER:  It's exciting to have you both on our broadcast today because in the past we've dealt with this issue of emergency preparedness and safety issues as it relates to people with disabilities, and sometimes people don't realize you have people with long term disabilities and also short term disabilities, but it makes for some major concerns when it comes to disaster preparedness and planning.

So, Pat, let me start with you.  Tell us a little bit about the work and the mission of the National Council on Disability.

PATRICIA POUND:  Okay.  I'll be happy to.  The National Council on Disability is an independent federal agency.  We're composed of 15 presidentially appointed individuals from around the country, many of whom have varying types of disabilities.  We meet four times a year to do the Council's work, and a lot of the work the Council does is disability-related research.  Then what grows out of that body of work hopefully is changes, from a legislative point of view, that improve the world for people with disabilities.

And we got into the area of emergency management post 9-11.  We were concerned about how people with disabilities were being dealt with in this area, and we wanted to kind of know, what's the state of the country.  And so we initially did a report in 2005 called "Saving Lives:  Including People with Disabilities in Emergency Management."  What we found as we did that research is there wasn't a lot out there.  It was hard to build a full report because there weren't studies to quote and things of that nature.  So we were at a very sort of ground floor level.  So we collected a lot of stories from people with disabilities. 

We additionally hypothesized what might happen if a catastrophic hurricane hit the gulf coast using statistics from the Census Bureau on people with disabilities.  That report came out in April of '05, and of course, as you know, what we prophesied came true unfortunately later that fall.

ALFRED McCOMBER:  Yeah, indeed, literally just four months later, Hurricane Katrina struck.  But it really kind of gave your organization some real credibility and a lot of great information, because you basically were able to say, look, this is one of the issues and so forth we're going to deal with, and it's interesting to see what happened post Katrina.

Let's talk for a moment about the types of disability.  I think a lot of times people may not realize it's a wide scope of situations.  You've got mobility issues, sensory, and other things as well.  Tell us a bit about that.

PATRICIA POUND:  For sure.  Disabilities range -- all people have the potential of becoming disabled or having a disability.  It can be mental health disabilities, developmental disabilities, disabilities caused from aging.  A lot of people who are older don't like to call themselves people with disabilities, but they'll say, but I have trouble walking.  Well, they are a person with a disability.

And, you know, thinking about that, a lot of what we do in emergency management is predicated on the notion of being able to listen, watch, walk, and run.  Well, if you can't do those things, then we need to prepare differently, both as individuals and as governments, to make sure that you're safe -- we are safe.

ALFRED McCOMBER:  You know, one of the exciting things as we discuss this is the fact that disabled does not mean incapacitated.  So that there are things that people can do, and we'll be talking about that on today's broadcast because we want to make sure that people have information that they can use, because this has been a real, real issue.

Martin, let's go over to you real quick.  Part of the problem -- and I know you know this because you're in charge of research and so forth.  But it seems like one of the concerns and challenges has been a lack of evidence-based knowledge about how to best organize preparedness and response and recovery efforts.  What can be done about this?

MARTIN GOULD:  I think there are several things that we found that could be done and that we put those out in our latest report, Al.  We basically talk about providing some public funding to localities and to states for each of the different phases: for collaboration with the disability community, expanding the kind of aid that's available to people who may need medical equipment, but more importantly, providing resources and support to researchers and others who are interested in looking at what other organizations in the private and public sphere have done that have proven to be somewhat effective.

We found that since our "Saving Lives" report was issued in 2005, quite a bit has been done, particularly as it relates to people with disabilities, and we'll talk about that a little bit further down.  But there are organizations such as the National Science Foundation, the National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research, the National Academies, and others who need funding, who need some additional funding to launch initiatives or to expand existing programs to focus on disaster and people with disabilities. 

We also think that those entities and others need to collaborate on research agendas, and we think that they need to do that in conjunction with community-based organizations and disabled people organizations.

ALFRED McCOMBER:  Right.  So there's a lot of different cooperations that's necessary to really get things on front and center in terms of things that can be done.

You know, back in August of 2009 your independent federal agency released a comprehensive 509-page report entitled "Effective Emergency Management:  Making Improvements for Communities and People with Disabilities."  I'm actually holding this book in my hand.  I want to thank Mark Quigley from your organization for sending it over to us, because this is an extremely comprehensive report that really starts dealing with the issues that people are dealing with.  In fact, people can actually get a copy of this in various forms by visiting the National Council on Disability's website at www.ncd.gov.

Martin, tell us more about the findings of this report and the strides that it's making in terms of helping people realize that we need greater awareness to helping people with disabilities be prepared for all types of emergencies, and we're going to talk about some of those emergencies a little bit later on.

MARTIN GOULD:  Sure, Al.  I'll try to be brief. 

As we mentioned, we identified from our work from 2005 to about 2007 or '8 a major gap in the government's knowledge base, and the gap involved the availability and use of best or promising and effective practices for communities, what.  Are the practical things that communities could do to both prepare for and work with individuals with disabilities, their families, friends, and advocates for an all-hazard type situation.  We commissioned a year-long study to identify how people with disabilities appeared in the emergency management framework.  We hired a craft team of researchers, Brenda Phillips and Elizabeth Davis, and we basically asked them to feel free to go across a variety of disciplines -- public health, medicine, sociology, emergency management -- to try to identify and review a range of documentation, both scientific and anecdotal. 

The objective for the team was to find out what exists or what didn't exist on the topic.  We basically said, look, we don't want you to have a preestablished conclusion.  You know, we want you to find out what's real and what's documented and what works.  We want you to then take that information and turn that into practical applications based on the findings from your research.

So some of the findings that they made, Al, was that the greatest amount of work that's been done is in the area of disaster preparedness, but that there's more that's needed regarding preparedness as it relates to education and training, design of warnings for emergencies, and sheltering services.

In the area of response, one of the major findings was that work remains to be done, particularly in the areas of search and rescue and evacuation.

In the area of recovery, we found that minimal research and documentation has really been done.  The reports and proceedings that we looked at indicated that the recovery period is difficult at best for folks in general, but for people with disabilities, there's a lack of accessible temporary housing, and case workers have real trouble finding resources to assist clients, so the case management issue is major.

ALFRED McCOMBER:  And that stuff has to be done obviously in advance of an incident. 

When we come back, we're going to continue our conversation with Pat Pound from the National Council on Disability, as well as Martin Gould, the National Council on Disability's director of research.  You're listening to the Code Red! show, dedicated to your personal security, your safety, as well as your emergency preparedness.  We'll be back in just a few short moments.  Be sure to check out the website, www.ncd.gov.  We'll be right back.

( Break.)

ALFRED McCOMBER:  Hey, welcome back to the Code Red! show, dedicated to your personal security, your safety, and your emergency preparedness.  Today we're talking with Pat Pound and also Martin Gould from the National Council on Disability.  We're talking about effective strategies and information that you can use to help keep safe, and if you know people that have disabilities, a lot of great information that's available.

We were talking about the "Effective Emergency Management:  Making Improvements for Communities and People with Disabilities," a recent report released on August 12th of 2009 from the National Council on Disability.

Martin, before we went to break, you were talking about some of the exciting information that's been learned as a part of this report.

MARTIN GOULD:  Right.  And we were talking about it in terms of the different cycles of a disaster.  One of the other findings, Al, was in the area of mitigation.  This was probably one of the most underinvestigated and researched and documented areas across the nation.  We think that even though it has the potential to really reduce the risk for people with disabilities, this mitigation is really a key area for major public funding and support for work.

One of the other findings is that emergency managers are not often prepared for serving people with disabilities, for a couple of reasons.  Number one, due to burdens on emergency managers, you know, who have minimal staffing at best available to them, particularly in local communities, particularly communities that don't have a large base of wealth; and that people with disabilities aren't prepared themselves often due to their own challenging life circumstances.

We've found that more attention needs to be given to the needs of people in nursing homes, people who don't drive or don't have cars, and people who need general or functional needs or services.

And finally, we found that people with disabilities trying to recover from disasters often experience difficulty finding temporary accessible housing, a lack of insurance coverage for specialized disability needs like durable medical equipment, prosthetics and assistive technology; that there are some gaps in federal assistance, and they typically have a loss of access to healthcare, which sometimes can be a long term lack of access. 

And finally, that there's a major disruption for many folks who rely on caregivers.

ALFRED McCOMBER:  Because those people may be affected when it comes to being able to provide care, and this kind of goes along the lines of human resiliency and the importance of really thinking long term instead of just waiting for things to happen. 

You know, the Los Angeles County has a very, very special 21-page guide entitled "Emergency Preparedness:  Taking Responsibility for your Own Safety.  Tips for People with Disabilities and Activity Limitations."  And you can go to a special link we've created.  It's www.tinyurl.com/specialeptips, and you can actually get a copy of that report.

Pat, I want to shoot it over to you.  A couple of months ago, you actually were at a national conference on community preparedness for communities that was held in Crystal City where basically community stakeholders from across the country were actually in town to discuss community preparedness.  And I know that you did a special presentation with regard to people with disabilities and some of the challenges.  Tell us a little bit about that.

PATRICIA POUND:  Well, it was a wonderful opportunity, and we really appreciate FEMA and Citizen Corps for allowing us to do that.  We actually released this report that day.  It was well covered in the press.  And the important thing to us was it was a gathering of interested emergency managers, particularly Citizen Corps people from all around the country.  And Citizen Corps' own statistics indicate that people with disabilities are less well prepared for disasters compared to people without disabilities. 

And so one of the important things to understand about this report is it's not just research data in terms of statistics.  It actually gives a lot of samples of best practices from all around the country, and it gives a lot of action steps that individuals can take, local emergency management offices, state emergency management offices, and the federal government and Congress can take to make the world better.

But we also, we did that because we understand that emergency management is built from bottom up.  And it's each individual's responsibility to prepare for our own safety, and that includes people with disabilities.  My own self, I thought I was doing pretty well.  I looked at my checklist and I had a lot of things.  Of course, I don't need flashlights because I'm blind.  However, I looked down at my feet and there was my guide dog.  Where was her food?  It was nowhere. 

So, you know, I had to start really thinking more in detail.  I think it's hard to imagine what one might need.  On the other hand, you can do it, and there's an increasing amount of information to help us, as you pointed out.

ALFRED McCOMBER:  And that's one of the things I really want to stress to our listeners is that this is not just a bunch of numbers, Pat, as you said.  This isn't just a bunch of great research.  There are actually action steps; there are things that people can do.  That's what we preach here on the Code Red! show and with my background in law enforcement and dignitary protection.  You can talk about it all day, but until people take action, and that's what I love about this report, very, very powerful, detailed, and a lot of best practices. 

I find that oftentimes, especially with law enforcement agencies, and sometimes fire departments and emergency management agencies, they tend to want to reinvent the wheel.  No, our town is different.  Our state is different.  Blah, blah, blah.  The fact of the matter is, there's already a lot of great research and a lot of great best practices.  So instead of reinventing the wheel, you can actually use what's already there and then modify it for the particular areas of the country.

Now one of the things that emergency managers and others need to know is their legal and ethical responsibilities for planning for people with disabilities.  There are two potential acts that kind of deal with this.  One is the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, known as ADA, and also the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, known as HIPAA.

Pat, if you would, tell us a little bit about these two acts and how they really intertwine with emergency managers across the country, whether they be state, local, federal government employees, or even in the private sector, how these two acts really play a role in overall emergency preparedness for people with disabilities.

PATRICIA POUND:  Well, I feel comfortable with discussing the Americans with Disabilities Act in particular.  The NCD was, in large part, responsible for beginning the discussion of the Americans with Disabilities Act.  Basically it guarantees equal opportunity for people with disabilities in government programs and private businesses.

But it's also very reasonable.  It says governments need to make reasonable accommodations.  But that also means that governments need to plan.  And so, you know, if you're a small town and have a volunteer fire department, well, that's the department that responds to individuals, so it's very important to understand how many people with disabilities there are in a community and have a relationship with them, because then you can find out what they really need, as opposed to sort of dreaming up all these notions that this law requires us to have sign language interpreters.  Well, it may, but what you need to do is to know who the people are in your community.  If you know those individuals, you may find that writing notes on a white board works for certain people but maybe a sign language interpreter is needed for a particular other person who can't use the things written on a white board.

So the key is the interaction between emergency managers and people with disabilities, and the responsibilities in the law -- in fact, the Department of Justice is the enforcing agency, and they have a wonderful segment on their website about local governments preparing to comply with this law, which of course is almost 20 years old. 

So there's a portion on that that's actually a checklist for shelters because shelters need to be accessible and you need to be prepared to provide people services.  One of the things that we saw in a shelter in Dallas that was needed the most was for elderly individuals needing assistance to the restroom.  Not really lifting assistance, but just someone to walk with.  And that seemed to be a service that was confusing to the shelter operators, and yet it was very easy to provide, and, in fact, many of the other shelter visitors provided that service.  But, you know, something very basic but very needed.  And so those are the kind of things that the ADA mandates that local governments have a plan for.

So as you mentioned, I mean, it doesn't work when you're trying to think of these things during a disaster, so it's very important to have a plan for before the time so that you know how you're going to assist people who need to be sheltered, how you're going to deal with accessible transportation, accessible warning systems.  All of those things require planning.

ALFRED McCOMBER:  Exactly.  It's got to be put in place before, because once the event is unrolling, there's no time to kind of go back.

You know, Martin, in our remaining two minutes, I want to shoot it back to you.  One of the things I also love about this particular report that also went to the desk of the President deals with the fact that there's so many different types of events.  You've got rapid onset events, you've got isolating events, you've got power failure events, large scale events, and even dealing with people in a high rise building, there are so many issues.  One in particular, which Pat mentioned earlier with regard to her assistance dog, is dealing with power failure events.  If you're on oxygen or require certain types of electricity for your durable medical equipment and so forth, and you don't have power, that creates a real issue.

So I'm going to send it back to you for the final two minutes to talk about overall the final findings from the report and how people can get access to that report.

MARTIN GOULD:  Thank you.  Some of the final findings in the report include that much emergency management planning today among the 7500 or so locales still unfortunately occurs without input from the disability community, disability organizations, or individuals with disabilities themselves, and that's something that can be readily addressed.

There are lots of things that this report offers, and for each of the promising practices that we do include, we make sure that we provide a rationale, what are the reasons that something is listed as a promising practice.  And we're very specific about why something is listed as a promising practice.  In every instance, whenever possible, when we list or describe a best or promising practice, we include a link to the site that may house that information on the internet.  So people who are interested out there can go out directly and track down more information.

Again, this information in this report is on the web, "Effective Emergency Management:  Making Improvements for Communities and People with Disabilities."  It's available in several file formats, and you could always call the National Council on Disability, (202)272-2004, and request a hard copy as well.

ALFRED McCOMBER:  Well, Martin and Pat, I want to thank you so much for joining us today on the Code Red! show.  Quite frankly, we need to have you guys back on again because there's so much great information we didn't get a chance to talk about today, but I want to thank both of you for taking time out of your schedules to join us.

MARTIN GOULD:  Thank you very much, Al.  We'd love to come back, and thank you for today's opportunity.

ALFRED McCOMBER:  And Pat, thank you again as well.

PATRICIA POUND:  You bet.  Thanks a bunch.

ALFRED McCOMBER:  Our special guests have been Pat Pound.  She is with the National Council on Disability.  She actually chairs the independent federal agency's home security committee, as well as Martin Gould, who is the National Council on Disability's director of research.

When we come back, we're going to be talking about loan modifications and some of the major scams that are going out across the country, and our special guest will be Eileen Fitzgerald.  She's the chief operating officer of NeighborWorks America.  We're going to talk about this issue in just a few short moments.

You're listening to the Code Red! show with Alfred McComber.  We will be right back.