Bunny and BCCPD staff, Board and volunteers wish you all a very happy holiday and a peaceful New Year.

Every organization should be prepared for an emergency but are you? Through our partnership with Volunteer Canada, we have trained 20 trainers from disability organizations and volunteer centres to deliver our community training in emergency planning for people with disabilities.

The training manual we created, Prepare to Survive – Prepare to Help, is full of exercises and resources for community groups who want to play a role in emergency planning and response in their communities.

Now, PowerPoint presentations have been prepared to help trainers use the manual.

Visit our Library/Emergency Preparedness page, and  click on the Community Organizations section at the top of the page. You will see all the Prepare To Survive resources there, including videos.

In the BCCPD’s August 2011 e-newsletter we announced a joint project with the BC Ambulance Service (BCAS) – the creation of a simple one-page form that enables people with disabilities and seniors to voluntarily and confidentially provide BCAS with information that will help them respond better to your needs in an emergency. Information about the form was also in our Transition magazine, fall/winter 2011.  Since we announced this initiative, the BCAS has reported receiving “a flurry of completed forms” from individuals and they are anticipating and welcome more.

For more information and to download the form from the BCCPD website, go to:

www.bccpd.bc.ca/ourwork/emergency.htm