▶ 0:18:03Chair Scott: The committee will come tonatural disasters do not discriminate. If you aren't prepared, nothing else matters. It is important for seniors who often have complex needs. I'm no stranger to disasters.
▶ 0:18:34Chair Scott: I've seen destruction by multiple hurricanes in the sunshine state. Preparedness saves lives. No alternative to prep and having a plan. When disasters strike, if you do not protect your life, there is no second chance. During hurricane season, you can rebuild your home but not your life.
▶ 0:19:04Chair Scott: Many floridians have barely survived hurricanes in which they would have done more to be prepared. I will never forget a young man in mexico beach the day after hurricane michael. He was searching for his elderly mother who stayed in her home on the beach.
▶ 0:19:29Chair Scott: He tried to get her to evacuate but she said I lived here forever and nothing is going to happen. That young man would not find his mom until days later. She have been swept away by the storm surge. My hope is our hearing today will motivate older americans to take preparedness seriously. Hurricane season is just weeks away.
▶ 0:19:57Chair Scott: Most of my experience with disasters have been responding to hurricanes. We've seen fires, tornadoes, earthquakes and other disasters impact our country. Disaster can strike at any moment. Having a plan is so important, especially for an aging population. Older americans are disproportionately affected by natural disasters.
▶ 0:20:23Chair Scott: In florida, 60% of the deaths were from seniors. Ready.gov. See what you need to be prepared. That includes an evacuation plan and knowing what to do if you must leave your home. That means stocking up on emergency supplies. An important part of this is making sure you have medications.
▶ 0:20:52Chair Scott: You have to have enough medicine to last a week. There are so many things to think about. When you can get prepared in advance, it is less stressful than trying to get everything done with a storm barreling through the atlantic. I am glad to have the witnesses today for their expertise and experience. Listening to them could be the thing that saves your life. Don't put your family at risk.
▶ 0:21:24Chair Scott: Get prepared today. I would like to recognize ranking member gillibrand.
▶ 0:21:31R.M. Gillibrand: Thank you. Urgent issue. One that our state knows quite well. Natural disasters are dangerous for everyone. They are especially dangerous for older adults and those with disabilities.
▶ 0:21:53R.M. Gillibrand: People with disabilities are four times more likely to die in a natural disaster and older adults are more likely to die in a disaster than any other demographic. Hurricane sandy struck new york, 2012. Nearly all fatalities were people over 65. February, 2021, a winter storm struck jacksonville, texas. 60% of the deaths were over 60.
▶ 0:22:24R.M. Gillibrand: We know the risks, the stats. It's our responsibility to plan. Older adults are more likely to have disability which may impact mobility, sensory processing or cognitive function. We must develop successful shelters and transportation, alerts in multiple languages and plan for relocating people who live in long-term care facilities before disaster strikes, not after.
▶ 0:22:56R.M. Gillibrand: That's one of the reasons I introduced my strategic plan for aging in the 118th and I plan to introduce it again this congress. It would create a grant program to incentivize state efforts to create their own plans for aging which would include disaster preparedness.
▶ 0:23:21R.M. Gillibrand: We have to make sure state and local governments are properly resourced to build accessibility into their disaster recovery/response. Safeguarding federal resources like those through fema or the administration for community living. I look forward to hearing from witnesses about solutions to improve outcomes for those with older adults during disasters.
▶ 0:23:45Chair Scott: Thank you. All of our witnesses bring important perspectives. Sheriff chris nocco. 2011, I appointed him to serve as sheriff. He was reelected.
▶ 0:24:18Chair Scott: As governor, chris was the first sheriff appointed. The sheriff is an expert. Last year the gulf coast was severely hit by hurricanes. We worked closely in response to make sure the residents of pascoe county are safe. The sheriff and his deputies are always working. They are ready to respond. Thank you for being here.
▶ 0:24:52Mr. Nocco: Thank you. [indiscernible] with a population of 750,000, 22% being 65 or older.
▶ 0:25:20Mr. Nocco: Senator rick scott appointed me sheriff, when governor of florida, guided our state through unprecedented hurricane seasons and the impact he left on preparedness and execution is still saving lives and property in florida today. The outstanding partnership we have with senator ashley moody, who was florida's a.g.
▶ 0:25:49Mr. Nocco: She was a leader on scam prevention for our senior population as they recovered from hurricanes. Our community faced last year hurricanes debbie, helene and milton. Pascoe county has unique challenges from the storms.
▶ 0:26:14Mr. Nocco: Debbie and helene moved to north, within 100 miles of the coast, storm surge was pushed ashore impacting 50,000 residents. This area is home to many seniors and has a direct impact on them. As hurricane helene moved north, I joined our sheriff's office and we conducted active water rescue.
▶ 0:26:46Mr. Nocco: We were joined by florida and national guard. Those overnight hours, we rescued 100 from storm surge which crested new record a levels. Anecdotally, the national guard was unable to pass any further encountering water and one of our neighborhoods. I witnessed individuals who climbed on roofs.
▶ 0:27:12Mr. Nocco: In one instance, a female, her small child and elderly relatives climbed to the roof of a three-story unit and were awaiting rescue. This speaks to the need of following evacuation orders.
▶ 0:27:32Mr. Nocco: Another example, 2023, we responded to an elderly couple with a boat to rescue them from their flooding house, they were not prepared and needed to gather various medications and family pets. If you do not heed local evacuation orders, be prepared to go and make the decision.
▶ 0:28:00Mr. Nocco: In these instances, our first responders, our first priority is life and safety and rescue. All resources become involved in these rescue operations. Even with that, we would not have been as successful as we were.
▶ 0:28:21Mr. Nocco: The resources at the state and federal partnership is invaluable for local communities such as pascoe county. Hurricane milton made landfall south of tampa bay. It dropped rain on already saturated rivers.
▶ 0:28:51Mr. Nocco: Several days after milton made landfall, we were called for several rescues especially in the neighborhood of wadley chapel.
▶ 0:29:12Mr. Nocco: Law enforcement and emergency response must embrace rapidly evolving technologies such as drones providing invaluable benefits to disaster preparedness, response and recovery. Drone technology helps save lives in our community. I know my information is going into the record. I appreciate your time.
▶ 0:29:38Mr. Nocco: I want to thank our citizens for all their support, to first responders in tampa bay. Power linesman, the gas line industry, they are critically necessary. Our lord jesus christ, I asked into protect us during this hurricane season.
▶ 0:30:01Chair Scott: In pascoe county just north of department , all the first responders do an unbelievable job or needing activities ensuring resources. Congratulations. Red cross.
▶ 0:30:22Chair Scott: I had the opportunity to work with red cross, I have big hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes as governor. Red cross helped us with our shelters, they fed a lot of people. They opened up health care facilities. They've done an unbelievable job.
▶ 0:30:50Chair Scott: Jennifer pipa, with red cross, she served as ceo of george's red cross. Her career began in 2004 when she was four years old when she joined the disaster action team in raleigh, north carolina as a volunteer. Thank you.
▶ 0:31:18Ms. Pipa: [indiscernible] good afternoon. Thank you for the privilege of being able to testify before you. We commend the committee on holding a much needed hearing on unique challenges for older americans. Amongst the challenges the red cross encounters is meeting the needs of older americans.
▶ 0:31:51Ms. Pipa: 20% of americans are in that 65 or older age group and that will grow more and more. This increase in population in older americans comes at a time when we are having more frequent and more costly disasters so when this is happening and that is becoming the new normal, the intersection of these two are absolutely a critical moment in time.
▶ 0:32:25Ms. Pipa: A personal experience after hurricane ian. I was out after the first couple days driving around, helping people navigate the recovery environment. There was a woman in her home sifting through things. It was like someone had taken her home and shaken it up. The refrigerator was in the middle of the kitchen.
▶ 0:32:55Ms. Pipa: She was going through her stuff. I introduced myself to her. Her name is jackie. She was a retired home economics teacher from upstate new york. Her and her husband moved to fort myers. She had done everything right. She listened to the warnings. She was aware. They evacuated. She still lost her home.
▶ 0:33:25Ms. Pipa: When she returned I was asking her about her neighbors. She was proud about the entire neighborhood. She told me some chose not to evacuate. One of her neighbors lost his life.
▶ 0:33:45Ms. Pipa: She's this incredibly intelligent well articulated woman and you know she has a road ahead of her that will be tough but she is one of those folks where you think I have faith she can navigate this. Continuing to talk to her for weeks afterwards, here's what you reminded me of. The disaster never lets her forget she was now a victim of it. Her life is changed because of the impact of that disaster.
▶ 0:34:14Ms. Pipa: Simple things we take for granted everyday, like what story to go to or I need to make an appointment with my local doctor or bank, she is forced to make new decisions. It's a choice that was forced upon her. She has to renegotiate what the rest of her retirement will look like with her husband because she was impacted by a disaster.
▶ 0:34:40Ms. Pipa: As folks get older, they rely on that repeatable, sustainable infrastructure so they can continue to live independently but still take care of themselves. Disasters strip our population of that ability. It takes away that autonomy and empowerment and forces them down a road not of their choosing. We see this time and again after a disaster happens, older americans struggle.
▶ 0:35:12Ms. Pipa: They were fine before but the navigation afterwards when the systems are upset and you don't know where everything is, they really struggle with the. We know that is an important population. We have to continue to keep track of and support as they make those tough decisions. In times of disaster, the red cross stands as an we rely on that to take care of every american that gets impacted because of disaster. We are committed to supporting our older americans.
▶ 0:35:43Ms. Pipa: 40% of our volunteer population is over 60. That is neighbors helping neighbors. That the best outcome you can have. They understand the difficult road ahead. As a volunteer, they can speak with credibility and help, understand, identify and empathize with those families. Their service reflects the value and dedication of our organization and our older americans aren't just recipients of our help.
▶ 0:36:11Ms. Pipa: They help, facilitate and empower communities to help ourselves. On behalf of the red cross, thank you for the opportunity to talk and thank you to our donors and volunteers who show up every time we call to go out and deliver that mission.
▶ 0:36:30Chair Scott: And you have to raise money to do a lot of this. Thank you. Ranking member gillibrand.
▶ 0:36:49R.M. Gillibrand: Thank you. Mr. luis vance taylor. In his capacity, he works to ensure older californians and californians with disabilities are not left behind during disasters by striving to guarantee their inclusion during the process. Thank you for being with us.
▶ 0:37:18Mr. Taylor: Thank you for having me. It is an honor to testify today. I do so not on behalf of any government agency but as a subject matter expert in the field of emergency management. We are in an era of increasingly frequent and severe disasters.
▶ 0:37:48Mr. Taylor: As the scope and scale and devastation associated with those events rise, it is critical we recognize wildfires, hurricanes strike without regard to politics. They disproportionally impact older adults and people with disabilities.
▶ 0:38:13Mr. Taylor: One reason why we see a disproportionate impact is because well-intentioned emergency managers who can walk and see and hear have oftentimes developed plans in isolation without inputs from the full spectrum of the communities they serve.
▶ 0:38:36Mr. Taylor: One time, while visiting an emergency shelter, I saw survivors, they were there on the worst day of their lives. It was hot, muddy. Ash from the air clung to their sweat and covered their skin. I hadn't integrated the provision of accessible showers.
▶ 0:39:05Mr. Taylor: When older adults and people with disabilities arrived, they could not bathe. I will never forget the look on their faces when I had to tell them they had no choice but to sit in their own filth until we could bring in the appropriate resources for them. Experiences like this should serve as a call to action, to embrace inclusive planning.
▶ 0:39:35Mr. Taylor: As a best practice, forward emergency management agencies are in the practice of planning for the community and instead, their choosing to plan with the community. One vital step is creating advisory committees that ensure better outcomes for the whole community.
▶ 0:40:00Mr. Taylor: Inclusive planning leads to asl interpreters, critical updates of accessible formats, the provision of successful evacuation resources and shelters that are physically and programmatically accessible. When the whole community is involved in planning, the result is a system that hears and sees and serves everyone.
▶ 0:40:29Mr. Taylor: More than that, it is a system that saves lives. California leads the nation in inclusive planning and yet I will be the first to say the work is far from done. We have resources to develop innovative practices and training. We share those resources freely across the country.
▶ 0:40:58Mr. Taylor: As valuable as those tools are, when disasters strike, what communities truly need is sustained support from federal partners like fema, a.c.l. And asper. They need funding for the full range of federal resources required to respond to and recover from events that overwhelm local capacities.
▶ 0:41:26Mr. Taylor: Studying or eliminating those agencies would have devastating consequences especially for older adults and people with disabilities whose safety, independence and survival often leaves them out.
▶ 0:41:46Mr. Taylor: We have an opportunity to affirm the mission of inclusive emergency management is one of the most human responsibilities we share, to show that washington can be counted on to empower emergency managers of all communities, to reduce human suffering, to prevent loss of life that mark older adults and individuals with disabilities.
▶ 0:42:17Mr. Taylor: Doing so is a reflection of who we are. Not as republicans or democrats but as americans. It is a lift that you don't have to lift alone. Federal agencies will lift with you. States across the country will lift with you. I will lift with you. As we lift together, the communities we serve will ascend. Thank you.
▶ 0:42:46Chair Scott: Thank you Mr. taylor. Senator moody.
▶ 0:42:53Sen. Moody: Thank you. Our chair always seems to be on top of timely issues as relates to seniors. We have dealt with everything from opioids, now disasters for seniors. Thank you for the diligence to follow through. It's important to our state.
▶ 0:43:23Sen. Moody: We have a large senior population. As attorney general, I went to a field hearing where senator scott hosted in the villages, that was such a great event. Who would have thought as the newest U.S. center, we would sit heroes colleagues discussing aging. Thank you for your support and your leadership. Thank you for the floridians who came all this way to join us.
▶ 0:43:54Sen. Moody: Appreciate that. I was a fierce fighter for seniors. I set up a senior protection team, enlisted the help of law enforcement and civil lawyers. Law enforcement does a remarkable job communicating with seniors as a hurricane approaches or a threat is approaching our chores making sure we are evacuating them, those that will evacuate.
▶ 0:44:24Sen. Moody: Law enforcement coordination and elected leadership is incredible in florida. I recognize seniors after the storm passes, the crimes that occur often, you have to be specially trained and aware that when a contractor demands cash payments from seniors and they
▶ 0:44:56Sen. Moody: Willingly hand over large amounts of money, and then they never returned to do any work, or when someone gets a senior to sign a power of attorney and takes their benefits without ever doing anything in the best interest of that senior -- to some extent, what used to be thought of in enforcement as a civil issue, we are now bringing around enforcement in florida to say this is not a contractual
▶ 0:45:28Sen. Moody: Dispute. This is theft. Law enforcement florida has taken that on. There will be contractual disputes in recovery. Anytime you are going through a large recovery, that will happen.
▶ 0:45:54Sen. Moody: In many instances, please fly-by-night scam artist criminals, I have the sheriff call me frantically one time talking about how someone demanded $30,000 to trim a senior's tree and they were about to hand it over. Sheriff, you have been at the helm admirably through these storms. Have you seen similar crimes?
▶ 0:46:24Sen. Moody: Is there anything we can do federally to encourage law enforcement when it is a crime of being more proactive in the aftermath of a disaster?
▶ 0:46:36Mr. Nocco: Thank you. Congratulations. Onyour position . Senior citizens move from all over the country to florida and they are not used to hurricanes.
▶ 0:47:04Mr. Nocco: There's a lot of things a family can do to prepare their loved ones for hurricanes. Make sure you tell your loved ones where they are. Also afterwards, what happens when there is a tree in your yard? You have electrical damage? Review unlicensed contractors.
▶ 0:47:30Mr. Nocco: After storms we do them because we recognize people come from out-of-state to prey on these senior citizens. There is the education piece. We are happy when federal partners assist us because we may be overwhelmed. The lights, security, the linesman are moving in.
▶ 0:47:58Mr. Nocco: The more it frees up local law enforcement to protect citizens from unlicensed contractors, that would allow us to be more proactive rather than being reactive to the storm.
▶ 0:48:15Sen. Moody: Thank you.
▶ 0:48:17Chair Scott: Senator gillibrand.
▶ 0:48:19R.M. Gillibrand: I will defer to senator kim.
▶ 0:48:25Sen. Kim: Thank you. Thank you for joining up. This is something I have thought about a lot.
▶ 0:48:43Sen. Kim: In the house, I represented a district that had part of the jersey shore and some of the largest retirement communities in the country, folks that probably spent half the year down with the chairman.
▶ 0:49:00Sen. Kim: It was important to recognize the issues in terms of disaster preparedness/response but to kaylee that in particular, understanding their needs. Mr.
▶ 0:49:16Sen. Kim: Taylor, in your work with the california governor's office, can you share the importance of involving older americans and individuals with disabilities in our disaster planning? How important is that and what from your own experience can you shed light on for the rest of us?
▶ 0:49:39Mr. Taylor: Great question. Thank you. You hit the nail on the head. The need to involve older adults and people with disabilities in the way we plan. Emergency management is bigger than anyone group or agency. In order to help the community we have to include the community.
▶ 0:50:11Mr. Taylor: One of the practices we have seen be most effective is the development of advisory committees. These are groups that are community-based organizations, advocacy groups, media representatives, that all come to the table to plan with emergency managers so managers can find out, how well do our plans when discussing things like medication, shelter,
▶ 0:50:43Mr. Taylor: Evacuation, response/recovery, how well do those meet the needs of the community? The perspective is invaluable. In part, we have a diversity of lived experience. I use a powered wheelchair. Anytime I enter a room, I am scanning the room for access, whether ramps, stairs, can I get around?
▶ 0:51:13Mr. Taylor: Chances are, if you walk in that same room, you probably aren't looking for those same things. That's ok. It's not that one is good and the other is bad. It just means based on our individual lived experiences, we each have a different perspective. We can look at the same thing and see it differently.
▶ 0:51:40Mr. Taylor: Bringing these committees together with emergency managers makes sure that we end up with a better product.
▶ 0:51:50Sen. Kim: These are advisory committees that would meet with the emergency managers to give feedback into that, and then, what is the loop back? How does then information get back to the larger community of seniors, people with disabilities? That's one of the harder things I felt we saw, just getting that information out there.
▶ 0:52:20Sen. Kim: I don't know if you have best practices?
▶ 0:52:22Mr. Taylor: Absolutely. Form of the challenges emergency managers have is they don't know everybody in the community. For example, seniors for independent living, serving individuals with disabilities.
▶ 0:52:49Mr. Taylor: They are able to take plans that get developed and make sure it gets to the end of the road. You can have the greatest plan but if the end-user doesn't know how to utilize it, for safety, security and independence.
▶ 0:53:08Sen. Kim: With fema, they would provide courses on inclusive emergency management. We have seen this in person and online. We have seen over the years the young person, now the online training has stopped. I think we should be revisiting some of these tools available for people to understand how to put their safety and security first, how to be connected.
▶ 0:53:40Sen. Kim: I think this could shine a light on these different tools to get the word out. Yield.
▶ 0:53:45Chair Scott: Thank you. Sheriff, how has your personal experience and state experience with disasters made your department better equipped to prepare for senior focused emergencies?
▶ 0:54:00Mr. Nocco: With the experience we've had throughout the years, unfortunately we have had a lot of hurricanes and instances where emergency management had to respond. With our senior population, it's messaging through tv, radio, constantly going out. We send our deputies into neighborhoods.
▶ 0:54:31Mr. Nocco: When you start talking neighbor to neighbor to say please get out of here, it is time to leave. It gives them a personal perspective to understand. I get it. It takes a lot to have to evacuate. There are misnomer's of shelters. They all think it is katrina/superdome. They believe that is what they are going to. They are fearful of that. They don't want to. It is not until it is too late that they say we have to leave.
▶ 0:55:00Mr. Nocco: It is going out personally, having deputies walk the neighborhoods, talk to people, tell them we have deputies at the shelters, this is where you can go. That has been the greatest impact. We can get on tv. Doesn't matter. Radio. Doesn't matter. It's not until you are face-to-face and explain to them and tell them the stories, of let me explain to you. 2023, the water was flowing super I.
▶ 0:55:31Mr. Nocco: One-story florida house, the water was rushing up. It was us and fire rescue going house to house. There was a husband-and-wife, elderly couple. You can see the water rising over the kitchen table. We have to get out of here. I need my medicine, I need this, I need my cat. There are cats on the refrigerator.
▶ 0:56:00Mr. Nocco: If it wasn't sad, it was comical seeing law enforcement trying to grab this animal because we knew they would not leave without their animal. We finally get them out. We tell those stories to people who do not want to evacuate. You can stay where you are. You have that right. We are warning you, if you stay in your house, we may not be able to respond quick enough to save you.
▶ 0:56:29Chair Scott: What unique needs of older americans does red cross prioritize during disaster preparedness and response?
▶ 0:56:39Ms. Pipa: A couple of areas we focus on. One is meeting older americans where they are, making sure you have readily accessible and easily consumable training to help them prepare themselves. In a lot of places, folks are not open to preparedness messaging until they have been impacted. They tend to be more receptive to it after that. We want to capture them.
▶ 0:57:12Ms. Pipa: We have five hurricanes in florida the last couple years. It is important to take that opportunity. It is sharing stories and helping folks understand. It is older americans teaching older americans. If I send a 23-year-old into do preparedness for older americans, I don't know if it will land as well as if it is an older american who speaks with credibility there. We know there are caregivers out there.
▶ 0:57:41Ms. Pipa: We want to make sure caregivers are prepared and can take care of themselves and the patient in their charge. Too often we see folks dropped off at red cross shelters that might have had home health care but they have been presented at a shelter and they don't have any support that comes along with them. Getting them connected back to their communities.
▶ 0:58:06Ms. Pipa: Thinking about caregivers and the pressure they feel to take care of these older americans if they have to evacuate, thinking through that process and helping to plan for that. Talking to older americans and asking them how they want to be prepared, how can we best communicate this message? How do we get the last 10 yards? Sometimes it is door-to-door, convincing people to take good actions.
▶ 0:58:31Ms. Pipa: Sometimes it is someone sharing their own personal experience to help repair people so they are not impacted in the same way.
▶ 0:58:39Chair Scott: Ranking member gillibrand.
▶ 0:58:41R.M. Gillibrand: Mr. vance taylor, I have been working on a strategic plan for aging for a while in the last congress. My bill amends the older americans act to require the assistant secretary for aging to create or implement strategic plans for aging and aging with a disability.
▶ 0:59:08R.M. Gillibrand: 2024, it was reported 10 states have a plan for aging, six states have authorized, 21 are interested. California's plan was introduced in 2021 in california has the fourth largest economy. Can you talk about how the california plan for aging helped ensure disaster prep considers the need of older adults and those with functional needs?
▶ 0:59:38R.M. Gillibrand: Do you think other states need federal support to implement their own plans for aging since they don't necessarily have the same resources you do?
▶ 0:59:46Mr. Taylor: The core aim of any master plan is to ensure older adults and people with disabilities can live independently in the community they choose. Reaching that goal really requires more than the traditional public health approach. The disaster preparedness strategy that reflects today's threat landscape.
▶ 1:00:18Mr. Taylor: California's master plan takes a whole community approach. Engaging state and local agencies alongside community organizations to integrate safety, independence into inclusive planning at every level. California provides a strong model. Many states, to your point, lack the resources, staffing or technical capacity to follow suit.
▶ 1:00:51Mr. Taylor: Without federal support, they simply cannot build or implement strategic plans for aging that meet these critical needs. Every state has older adults and people with disabilities. Every state faces disasters.
▶ 1:01:13Mr. Taylor: This is really about safety and dignity and independence and requires sustained local and federal investment.
▶ 1:01:28R.M. Gillibrand: Can you talk about the challenges for older americans or people with disabilities who have language access issues? One of the things, one of our challenges in new york state, where's the camera when addressing Mr. taylor? Do we know? I feel like I'm not looking at him. Do we know where the cameras? I see where you are. Ok good.
▶ 1:02:03R.M. Gillibrand: We had a lot of trouble during one of the natural disasters in new york and there was massive flooding and because we didn't have enough communication in multiple languages, a lot of senior citizens died because they did not evacuate from basements. Whether they were sleeping or they did not get out in time, just as you describe sheriff.
▶ 1:02:32R.M. Gillibrand: I've advocated for the expansion of language access for the wireless emergency alerts. Can you speak about the importance of ensuring that their accessible to those with older adults and people with functional needs?
▶ 1:02:43Mr. Taylor: That is huge. If you don't know what is coming, you cannot prepare, you can't be safe. You can't be secure. One incident, there was the middle of the night, there is a wildfire. They debate about, alert or not alert? They don't want to create panic. They don't want congested evacuation. Ultimately they chose not to.
▶ 1:03:13Mr. Taylor: What got lost in the discussion was what the impact was going to be for individuals in that jurisdiction who were deaf. When deaf people sleep at night, they put their phone under their pillow or on their body. That way if an alert comes in, they vibrate and it wakes up. The alert didn't go out. They slept. The fires raged around them.
▶ 1:03:44Mr. Taylor: For some of them, by the time family and friends were able to reach out, it was tragically too late. At the end of the day, this issue about accessible alerting and formats in my merges is about whether people live or die. Whether they are safe or left behind. You have to know what is coming or they don't have a chance.
▶ 1:04:12R.M. Gillibrand: Thank you.
▶ 1:04:13Chair Scott: Senator warnock.
▶ 1:04:17Sen. Warnock: Thank you for holding this hearing. I want to thank you for your service.
▶ 1:04:38Sen. Warnock: Is it your experience, older adults face unique risks during disasters particularly related to evacuation, medical care and communication?
▶ 1:04:50Ms. Pipa: Absolutely. Here's what we see a lot of times. Folks tend to believe they can rely on their family that is local to help them as well. That's not always the case. Experiences I have had, I have visited an older american in a shelter and asked him how he was doing. He said he's ok. I said how's your family? There local. Were they impacted? . They were. How come you are at the shelter in your family is not?
▶ 1:05:22Ms. Pipa: They didn't have enough room for them. That's a heartbreaking situation for that older american and his family. They are all trying to recover. Reno older americans look to their family, friends and neighbors to help. They want to return back to the home they came from. Sometimes that is possible. Unfortunately, sometimes that is not.
▶ 1:05:45Ms. Pipa: When you are reliant on a standard schedule or repeatable day-to-day activity and a disaster takes that away from you, it challenges you from a cognitive, physical standpoint. We see older americans struggle to make better decisions after for their recovery to put them in a place where they can access the resources they need. Recovery is a long journey. It is complex. There are lots of pieces to it.
▶ 1:06:17Ms. Pipa: To knit that together for yourself and help yourself navigate the is something we see older americans struggle with. That is where we use our caseworkers, to make sure they have contacted their doctor. If they have a medical assisted device, how do we get back to the independent living they desire?
▶ 1:06:44Ms. Pipa: Pairing them with medical professionals to help them navigate that situation as well as caseworkers is something you and we are seeing it happen more and more and we are seeing more older americans turn to us to help them navigate that system.
▶ 1:07:01Sen. Warnock: Would you agree robust investment in disaster preparedness can make the difference between life and death especially in communities with aging populations russian mark -- aging populations?
▶ 1:07:19Ms. Pipa: Absolutely. We have to think about what they need in terms of support to heed that evacuation order when it comes or whether it is no notice.
▶ 1:07:33Sen. Warnock: Hurricane helene killed nearly 200 americans. $600 million federal funding for georgia to help us recover, rebuild and prepare for the next storm. The storms are getting stronger and becoming more frequent. That is why I am alarmed by this administration's plan to cut fema and federal programs that help older americans prepare for when disaster strikes.
▶ 1:08:03Sen. Warnock: These are not just budget choices. Last month, the trump administration canceled $30 million flood reduction plans for my hometown of savannah, georgia. It would have saved $180 million in post-disaster recovery costs.
▶ 1:08:25Sen. Warnock: They killed the program or cancel the $30 million grant because they said it was too focused on the climate even as we see these storms get stronger and stronger. Senior citizens in savannah including my mother are now less protected from deadly floods because donald trump doesn't believe in climate change.
▶ 1:08:48Sen. Warnock: In your experience at red cross, when seniors are isolated during a flooding disaster, like the flooding savannah was trying to prevent, how does that isolation amplify unique risks seniors face during a disaster?
▶ 1:09:07Ms. Pipa: Seniors count on their social network and their connectedness to their neighbors and families. If that is torn away from them and they are left in isolation, we see them struggle. Simple tasks like taking medication on time, things like that. Even when they come to a shelter, we see the same thing. We have disrupted their lives. They are not prepared for what is coming.
▶ 1:09:33Ms. Pipa: This is critical that we help position and educate folks so they are the best prepared and their community members are educated so they can help as well. It doesn't just have to be the american red cross. It has to be all our nonprofit partners who can step up.
▶ 1:09:51Sen. Warnock: Thank you for all your work.
▶ 1:09:56Chair Scott: Thank you. Sheriff, one of the biggest challenges law enforcement faces when evacuating or assisting older adults during a disaster?
▶ 1:10:11Mr. Nocco: Partnerships at the local level, I will tell you pascoe fire rescue does a phenomenal job. If there is someone who can knock it on public transportation -- in emergency situations, the local government is the heart of where it happens. We are blessed to have partners like the red cross but local government knows the community.
▶ 1:10:41Mr. Nocco: We know what is going on. When there are people that want to be evacuated, fire rescue will go out or if they can move on their own, pascoe public transportation. We go into secure the neighborhoods. That's the other thing, especially with the senior population. They are so scared to leave because they think we are going to break into their houses.
▶ 1:11:06Mr. Nocco: We start shifting our deputies to alpha bravo, which is 12 hour shifts. We understand a big part of evacuation and leaving is that peace of mind, that their house is going to be safe. Another great lesson learned is to turn your power off when you leave that house. I cannot stress enough, I appreciate from a federal standpoint, how can you help?
▶ 1:11:32Mr. Nocco: The biggest thing for most is that we emphasize emergency management starts at the local level. We know where people need help. We can speak to them from a common language because we live there. In example of recovery, search and rescue, you bring in federal partners, they are great but they don't know our community. National guard was deploying on the vehicles, going to different areas.
▶ 1:11:58Mr. Nocco: We were telling them, you need us in the trucks with you because we cannot tell you where the low-lying areas are. I cannot emphasize that enough. How can the federal government assist? Supporting local government. We know what we are doing. We know our communities.
▶ 1:12:20Chair Scott: Give me an example of how local partnerships, churches, veterans groups, community centers, helped protect seniors during a storm?
▶ 1:12:32Mr. Nocco: That's a great point, especially with the faith-based community. We talk about the word trust. They trust a deputy. They will trust fire rescue. They will trust their church. Members of the church, to say shelter here. If we want to look to the future about where we can spend federal resources, it is strengthening shelters. The schools, churches. Churches can make great shelters.
▶ 1:13:02Mr. Nocco: They need generators, hurricane impact windows. They just need to be built up a little. Talk about that trust. I will leave my house, I trust my church. They will get support because that is a heartbreaking story when you hear someone is in the shelter, and the family lives down the street but they cannot have them.
▶ 1:13:27Mr. Nocco: If they are there with their church, their synagogue, people they trust, that will allow them to leave. It's almost like a community meeting together. They will help each other through the disaster.
▶ 1:13:40Chair Scott: Has it been successful to have the national guard in florida on top of law enforcement and red cross and others?
▶ 1:13:48Mr. Nocco: The more we bring resources into shelters, the better off we are. National guard is even more successful when they are deployed with us. We put deputies in the shelters. Though shelters turn into little cities. Pascoe school district goes a great job feeding them and helping them. Fire rescue provides medical assistance. It's great, it feels that community.
▶ 1:14:17Mr. Nocco: National guard, we thank them for their services. We love it when they are more flexible because sometimes, and this becomes a bureaucratic issue, if their mission changes, it becomes a whole storyline to try and get them to help you to do something because they have to change their mission.
▶ 1:14:45Mr. Nocco: This all of us in the enforcement, fire rescue -- this affects all of us in the enforcement, fire rescue, it is the reimbursement. Fema reimbursement side will tell you it is a disaster. How can you help us on a local level? It is streamlining operations and allowing us to help those shelters. The more we can make those shelters more desirable to go to, the better off we are.
▶ 1:15:14Mr. Nocco: I know people want to leave that shelter, let us make sure it is safe to go back to where you came from.
▶ 1:15:25Chair Scott: Ranking member?
▶ 1:15:28Sen. Gillibrand: We heard stories about what happens during the disaster, and I have met so many older new yorkers who have lost everything. What do we do for them after they have lost everything?
▶ 1:15:47Sen. Gillibrand: How do we try to make sure they can have independence, if they have lost their home, as you have said, if they have lost their animals, if they lost their medicine or license or credit cards, just existing without all the things that keep you in your home and independent is very difficult. What advice do you have for this community about assuring these seniors can have independence after a disaster?
▶ 1:16:18Ms. Pipa: Part of it is making sure that as you move from that response to that recovery continuum is that there is an infrastructure in place that can help support them in the move forward. We see folks present at our shelters if the health care system has been compromised. Access to medical professionals and supplies and personnel is something that drives them to show up in the american red cross shelter.
▶ 1:16:48Ms. Pipa: As we move them through that continuum and find the next step on the recovery journey, making sure they are reconnecting with the work and the folks that were helping them before hand, because they tend to get disconnected and they have a hard time reconnecting with that person or entity to help move them forward. That could be social service entities, it could be faith-based entities, it could be a local senior center.
▶ 1:17:17Ms. Pipa: We have to understand the fabric of that community and work with those specific entities, either local government or nonprofit, to make sure they are robust and stable enough that they are ready to take care of those folks as they move forward. We will walk with them through the response and recovery journey, but we are not experts in those fields. There's so much more beyond that these folks need.
▶ 1:17:45Ms. Pipa: We want to make sure we are not leaving before that infrastructure is in place so they can continue their recovery, they don't slip through the cracks.
▶ 1:17:55Sen. Gillibrand: Have you ever used or heard of -- before a disaster, asking older americans or anyone to create a plan? If you are about to deliver a baby, you pack a bag.
▶ 1:18:16Sen. Gillibrand: Do we ever tell order americans -- older americans, pack a bag, have all your medicines in it, pack your passport, whatever id's you have, them in a go bag by the door before evacuation. Does that ever happened before a hurricane or big storm before there might be flooding? I tried to help my parents, particularly my father who does not want to leave his home before a hurricane.
▶ 1:18:47Sen. Gillibrand: The wants -- he wants to ride it out every time. That creates anxiety for his family, but in those instances when he does not leave, is there a way to get them prepared before?
▶ 1:19:02Ms. Pipa: That is my lived experience with parents and in-laws as well. Even if their home is destroyed, they want to get back to protect what might be recoverable. I think for us is really important to make sure that they have that kit. For some folks, that is a financial burden.
▶ 1:19:24Ms. Pipa: If you are asking them to put three days of food aside and water, what we also try to do is incrementally chunk it out to say you don't have to build your go bag today, but let's have a plan over the next four months so you are not experiencing that financial burden of putting the go bag together.
▶ 1:19:48Ms. Pipa: I actually do this myself, I have a list of things that might expire, so they may not sit in my go bag. That list sits at the top of my go bag.
▶ 1:20:02Sen. Gillibrand: You are super prepared. [laughter]
▶ 1:20:06Ms. Pipa: It is kind of job security.
▶ 1:20:10Sen. Gillibrand: Chair, what are your thoughts? Mr. thompson, would ask the same questions.
▶ 1:20:23Mr. Thompson: I understand many americans have routines. So disrupt that routine -- so to disrupt that routine may make them feel uncomfortable, but we do that. We do that before the storm. The nice things about hurricanes is you get a few days notice.
▶ 1:20:46Mr. Thompson: We say build that go bag up, go to the pharmacy, the pharmacy will usually give you the extra drugs because they understand right after a storm, the drugstores may be down. We say go get your extra drugs. The one thing we tell people to not forget is their charger. They wilbur member their phone but forget the charger -- they will remember their phone but forget the charger.
▶ 1:21:15Mr. Thompson: The biggest thing we tell people is make sure you tell your loved ones where you are. This is where I'm going to be. One thing we face is they don't know where their loved ones are. They go to a shelter, so they call a welfare check. They say I cannot get a hold of my loved one, where are they?
▶ 1:21:44Mr. Thompson: Even if the winds are high, we know what we are built to go into the worst-case scenarios to find people. You are putting first responders lives by risk -- lives at risk by not telling people where you are going. It is part of the planning process to tell people where you are at all times because people are stressed and out-of-state, and I can imagine they watch the news which makes them more stressful. We are pushing that message.
▶ 1:22:16Mr. Thompson: Water starts rising, we don't have time, and we say have credit cards, cash, medicine and your charger, let's roll. We take them out the door and those situations make it better for first responders if they have those go kits ready.
▶ 1:22:37Sen. Gillibrand: How do people with disabilities and older americans reestablish their independence after a storm? What are the tried and true practices that work? How do we engage our seniors to prepare better before a storm so that if they are being rescued because the water is rising, they have the key things they need like their phone, charger, medicine, the phone numbers to
▶ 1:23:09Sen. Gillibrand: Call someone?
▶ 1:23:09Mr. Taylor: If we are talking about after a disaster, I think we have to look at the role of fema, the acl, play in that capacity.
▶ 1:23:29Mr. Taylor: It is when they go to a disaster recovery center and they are able to apply for those programs that will benefit their lives, not just in terms of things like rental assistance, but it is their first major step to getting into the recovery process. That is essential.
▶ 1:23:53Mr. Taylor: If we are looking at before the disaster strikes, then we will look at things like training. People forget their charges. You know what charger they forget? Their wheelchair charger. I cannot tell you the amount of times I go to a shelter and people say I don't have might wheelchair charger. They are leaving and there is not time to think of everything.
▶ 1:24:23Mr. Taylor: We have to engage them before hand. One of the things that we see is when we train with the whole community on these specific items, that message gets socialized. Everybody does better. But not every jurisdiction is well resourced.
▶ 1:24:47Mr. Taylor: That is one of the things, like grants play a key role, because there are tried-and-true ways to empower older adults. There are tried and true ways to empower those with disabilities, but it often times requires a certain level of investment that not all jurisdictions can bear on their own.
▶ 1:25:16Mr. Taylor: Promoting those best practices is essential. Part of it is have enabled goal -- is having a bold goal. It is 2025, so we are no longer going to accept that people are going to die in their homes, simply because they lack the capability or capacity to run for help.
▶ 1:25:43Sen. Gillibrand: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 1:25:47Chair Scott: What tools or technologies do you use to reach older adults who may not be digitally connected?
▶ 1:25:57Mr. Taylor: It is interesting when we talk about technology, I don't think of myself as an older adult, but if you talk to my daughters they will say based on my technology challenges, I'm absolutely in that category. We have to understand there is a digital divide. Not everybody has access to smart phones and internet and apps.
▶ 1:26:28Mr. Taylor: And everybody's ability to use those will be different as well. In order to make sure that we close that divide, we absolutely have to meet people where they are. A big part of that is working with community-based organizations that serve people with disabilities. It is tough to navigate these processes.
▶ 1:27:01Mr. Taylor: Put these things together in planned language to develop not just online trainings, but in person deliveries as well, and to support the communities, everything from cert type programs, conducting local trainings and knocking on doors, and for example, fema, when there is a major declaration, they will go out and canvas neighborhoods.
▶ 1:27:33Mr. Taylor: They will literally make sure they get the information that they need in order to be safe and secure. We have to take a multipronged approach and take as many bites as we can at that same apple in order to move the needle.
▶ 1:27:54Chair Scott: Thank you. Are there any specific initiatives that the red cross uses to assist our state's large senior population?
▶ 1:28:06Ms. Pipa: There is. We are working directly in florida with a couple different -- I'm sorry, senator, will you repeat the question?
▶ 1:28:15Chair Scott: Is there anything with our senior population in florida, anything that the red cross does differently?
▶ 1:28:24Ms. Pipa: Unfortunately given that florida has been visited by several hurricanes, we had the opportunity to refine and add new pilots. One of the pilots we added post hurricane ian is we have a problem that allows us to install free smoke alarms to prevent injury due to house fires. We know that the 10 minutes we get in that person's living room is gold in terms of education.
▶ 1:28:52Ms. Pipa: Why we want to educate them on how to evacuate their home during a house fire, we now combine that with in person education about the most likely disaster that that family will experience, and in florida it is disasters. Think of it as a curated piece of that program that is specifically directed towards families based on the type of disaster they will most likely have.
▶ 1:29:20Ms. Pipa: We developed an outcome of that with the feedback we got from communities, and now we are not only using that there, but along all of our hurricane states to better prepare families there.
▶ 1:29:35Chair Scott: Ranking member gillibrand? Go ahead. [indiscernible]
▶ 1:29:42Sen. Gillibrand: I want to thank you all for this excellent testimony. I want to thank you for the hearing, chairman spot. I think we learned about the importance of inclusive preparedness disaster strategies. We discussed the importance of safeguarding federal resources that allow states and localities to enact robust and inclusive disaster response. Our current trends cannot continue.
▶ 1:30:13Sen. Gillibrand: We have to do better, and I know we will, especially with the information we gleaned from this hearing. Thank you Mr. chairman.
▶ 1:30:20Chair Scott: I want to thank everyone for being here today. I want to thank our witnesses. I look forward to working with our members across the aisle. If senators have any questions for the witnesses, the hearing record will be open until next wednesday at 5:00 p.m. I want to thank everyone for being here today. This was very informative. Thanks.