Aging sometimes increases our vulnerability, whether due to physical or cognitive changes or greater isolation. When it comes to things like emergency situations and elder abuse, these vulnerabilities can be highlighted, and we need strong systems to empower us, boost our resilience, and ensure our autonomy.

To achieve this goal, our strategies are:



• Inclusive Emergency Preparedness and Response
• Elder Justice
  

Communities and older adults can plan together to boost resilience and recovery in the face of disaster.

Public emergencies can take many forms. In recent years Minnesotans have faced a pandemic, civil unrest, and extreme weather events. Crises like these disproportionately threaten older adults who need extra assistance, and people of color and low-income people experience inequities during disaster response and recovery.1 Ageism compounds these issues.2

However, older adults also have been found to contribute assets in disaster response—with their experience, resources, and ability to build relationships and support others.3

Community emergency plans can boost resiliency by more deeply integrating older adults into their plans, including empowering older adults to prepare themselves. Deliberate strategies must be developed to ensure inclusive, equitable planning and response for all.



Featured Statistic Sources

• National Centers for Environmental Information, Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters, Minnesota Summary, April 2024.
• MN Age Friendly Statewide Needs Assessment, 2021.
• MN DHS Vulnerable Adult Protection Dashboard, March 2023.

Footnotes

• 1 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Disaster Technical Assistance Center.
• 2 HelpAge International, 2020. If Not Now, When? Keeping Promises to Older People Affected by Humanitarian Crises.
• 3 Chandra A., Acosta J., Howard S., Uscher-Pines L., Williams M., Yeung D., Garnett J. and Meredith L. Building Community Resilience to Disasters: A Way Forward to Enhance National Health Security. Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corporation; 2011.
• 4 National Center on Elder Abuse, 2021.

We all deserve to have autonomy and choice about our lives, and freedom from abuse, neglect, and exploitation.

This is significant, as around 1 in 10 Americans age 65-plus living in the community have experienced some form of abuse, and that is considered a low estimate.4 The Blueprint can help coordinate efforts that address prevention, response and equity to empower and protect us as we grow older.

Keep learning about other domains...