For a family with a child having special healthcare needs, planning for possible evacuation and sheltering also includes provisioning for your childs ongoing care while away from home. Calculate the complete needs for your child for five days away, and set aside those supplies in pre-packed bins for easy removal in case of an emergency evacuation.
Items to consider could include:
-Enteral feeding pumps, bags, formula
-Diapers, wipes, Diaper cremes
-Medical supplies for feeding tubes, dressings, trach cleaning and changes, stoma care
-Any other medical supplies and needs your child may have
-Battery operated toys, DVD players, games, etc, favorite toys and extra batteries
-Clothing and daily needs for your child with special healthcare needs.

If you do need to evacuate, planning ahead can make a huge difference in comfort and surroundings.
First, always consider the "affected area" to be anywhere within the "cone of uncertainty". This "cone" is the area designated by forecasters to most likely be affected by a hurricane. As we have seen in the past with Hurricane Charlie, storms are often unpredictable and veer from their expected course. The storms path can track anywhere within the periphery of "the cone of uncertainty" or beyond. For this reason we can NEVER track a storm by the "thin line track" projected by forecasters, but always by the larger cone of area that can be affected by a storm strike. If you are living within the cone, be ready to implement your disaster and/or evacuation plan with a moments notice.
The first option for evacution should almost always be family and friends away from the affected area, whenever possible. This will allow you and your family to be in surroundings with existing familial suppoorts, understanding people glad to share their space with you for a time, and with a household which may already understand your childs special situations and needs.
An alternate choice can be hotels or motels far away from the projected affected area. Moving to a location on the periphery of the projected path could be moving your family to yet another dangerous location. Demand for space during a potential storm event can be very heavy, and advance planning and a plan to leave well in advance of the storms arrival are essential.
Other evacuation and sheltering options do exist. Using a program such as "Shelter is Golden" will match you to a host family in another area just for an instance of storm evacuation. Click here to find out more about the "Shelter is Golden" program
Use of a public shelter should be your last and final choice. Space is very limited, it is more like a barracks than a motel, and you MUST bring all of your own supplies for your child with you. Pets, with the exception of service animals, are only accepted in "Pet Friendly Shelters", and then usually by pre-registration. Special Needs Shelters (SpNS) request pre-registration within the county where you live. Click here to go to our Special Needs Shelter Registration Information page.
Where ever your shelter destination, it is extremely important to not wait until the last opportunity to evacuate. News reports of long lines of traffic, gasoline shortages, families stranded in vehicles in the height of the storms, all of these are real, and to keep your child safe, you must depart earliest to assure your family stays safe. Pre-planning can help you avoid these pitfalls...Click here to use the Family Disaster Planning Website at FloridaDisaster.org.

Use the links below to find out more about planning for your families needs in a regional disaster.